Ayo Gorkhaili
by atokkota
Summary: Harry Potter, the boy who lived, is barely surviving the neglect and abuse of his so called loving family. It was not unnoticed but it seemed like the Powers that Be were ignoring all the signs until one day a refugee steps up to bat for the boy and starts a revolution. AU/ OC
1. Refugees

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.

**Chapter 1: Refugees**

Many would expect the boy who lived in one of the repetitive cut out houses that was the same as all the other brain dead boring square boxes in the street would be cowed by his circumstances. However this little boy was a special boy even though he was treated worst than a house elf. The young boy was called Harry James Potter as he learnt from the first day of Reception when the primary school teacher complained that he was not responding to his own name. It had been a shock to his system to attend school for the first time let alone the discovery that his name was not 'freak' or 'boy'. He had gotten used to been summoned with either one of these labels normally at a screech.

Harry Potter was a very clever little boy and he had his mother's intellect along with some of her red headed personality. While Lily Evans Potter was infamous for the flash of temper she still had the ability to do the long slow burn of a line of black powder before reaching the gelignite. Yes revenge and retribution is a dish that is best served cold and Harry James Potter was going to get some answers for his many questions along with getting some pay back to the Powers that Be that had left him with his Aunt and her horrible family where he was clearly unwanted as he had been repeatedly told quiet viciously that "he was nothing but a burden".

To the young boy the first year of schooling had been a confirmation that the Dursley household was not normal and their treatment of him was morally wrong. His second year of Schooling clarified that his situation was not the societal norm and there was some reason why his family called him freak. Yes the Dursleys were highly concerned about his freakishness infecting or becoming well known in the local area.

His attempts at the end of the first year to get the protective agencies the so-called Authorities to do some thing had crashed round his ears. Sure tell the teacher if someone were doing a bad thing they would stop the bad people hurting the victim. He had tried that and he saw that nothing happened. Actually in some cases those who tried to help him they were punished for attempting to help him. So the small boy with messy hair and the most emerald green eyes had formed the opinion that the reality of the situation was that he did not have the power. He wasn't big and strong like his bully of a cousin and uncle. No he had to learn, watch and wait biding his time until he was much bigger and knew more about the world. One day he would be big enough to fight back but until then he had to lay low.

Harry learnt after the Year One report that he was not to outshine Dudley. The end of year reports for their reception year had not been that different as there was a newly qualified teacher, Miss Tracey, who was scared of the dominating Headmaster an old friend of Vernon Dursley. In the first autumn term when the children were just settling into the routine of the school environment it became clear for her supervised parent teacher chat with Petunia Evans Dursley that the NQT was seeing mixing up the two boys.

Not wanting to not be able to complete the required minimum teaching qualifying hours the trainee teacher Miss Tracey did not buck the system but she was damn sure to get out of the school for the next teaching year as the Headmaster was misogynistic twat.

In the case of Harry Potter he did not have the opportunity to bail from the school like his reception teacher Miss Tracey had done so it was a case of sit it out while keeping his head down. Yes Harry had learnt to present the mask of the meek submissive boy to his abusive family. In doing so he had unwittingly started self-control training that Harry would require later in life for his emotions and magic.

Harry was not exactly aware of magic yet knew there was some phenomena that made him different and could not be explained. There was the time when he made Mrs Harris his Year 1 teacher's hair wig blue after getting in trouble for something Dudley had done yet again. His Aunt and her family all declared that there was no such thing as magic but there had to be some explanation for the phenomena being his misbehaviour as a 'freak'. Harry had paid the consequences for his freakishness that had been particularly negative for his health and well being. The boy was beaten and then thrown into his cupboard were he spent a long weekend without meals. So Harry was characteristically small and thin while on the other hand his cousin Dudley was a baby whale when compared to the dark haired boy. His thin body and the hand me down clothes from the said baby whale resulted in the boy or freak looking a number of years younger than the smaller blob in the house who was actually only a number of weeks older than his cousin. There was no reason why he did not have a proper room and Dudley had two with one being expressly used for his broken toys. There had to be some reason for the disparity of their circumstances.

Harry did not consider 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey to be his home but rather it was just a place he had to survive until he could undertake the great escape from the prison camp. The prison camp analogy came easily to Harry from his experiences seeming so similar to those war story videos that both Vernon and Dudley seemed to enjoy. His treatment was so like the torture and inhuman treatment that the lead characters of the prisoner of war films endured. Harry was not allowed to watch TV with the Dursley family in the front lounge but he saw enough of the films while clearing the kitchen, the dining room or from the crack of his cupboard door to see some similarities from the visual representations to his situation.

Sitting in the cupboard reviewing all the information that he had observed from environments out of the house confirmed to Harry that what he was experiencing with his so-called family was not right. Until such time Harry had the opportunity to challenge the Powers that Be who had dumped him on the stoop when he was 15 months old he would keep up the observations and the preparation for the jailbreak.

In Year Two when Harry was seven years old he got a different teacher. His teacher this year was not the stereotypical white Anglo Saxon or so called white British no Mrs Asmara Mpheli was a Eritrean refugee who had married a Xhosian South African refugee. The mixed raced young African couple where both political refugees who had met, fallen in love, and married in a Tanzanian United Nations refugee camp before being resettled in the United Kingdom.

Mr Fezile Mpheli was an intellectual and card-carrying member of the African National Congress (ANC). Actually his father was quite a senior leader in the organization and one of the reasons why he was a political refugee was it was due to his family connections. Fezile had been educated at Moscow University as an African comrade in the fight for the worker against the corrupt capitalist system. Coming back to the ANC camps after completing his degree found Fezile experiencing life as a foot soldier in the cause of freedom and equality.

As a foot soldier with a university degree in computing and electrical engineering it wasn't long before Fezile Mpheli found his way into the intellectual boffin unit where more often than not he was working on explosive devices. In an unfortunate accident Fezile was injured with the early discharge of a high-powered explosive device that one of his colleagues was constructing. He was lucky to get out of the explosion with relatively minimal shrapnel injuries but Fezile dipped out with burns that included depigmentation of his skin along with crippling scar tissue on his hands.

Fezile's days as a foot soldier in the ANC military units was over as he was now a burden to the organization. Realizing this the young man moved on to the UN refugee camp seeking additional medical assistance for his injuries. Fate looked in for the young man and while in a UN camp Fezile fell in love with Asmara and the pair of them decided that the would continue to support the demand for change and freedom in their home communities in a new country while eking out a life for themselves.

Asmara Mpheli also had another aspect in her past that she had kept secret. Fezile had not covered all the secrets he had as a soldier for his cause. Likewise Asmara had not disclosed to her husband her secret that she was a non magical member of a magical family. In the UK they used the term squib for her, as she did not have enough control of her magic to enable her to control a wand. She could sense magic and see some colours that indicated the different magicks that were present.

Asmara Mpheli in her new country kept tabs on the local magical community, as she was aware of the Old World Magical attitudes that held similar views to the Afrikaners that her Fezile had struggled against in his homeland including the system of apartheid. As a non-European squib Asmara knew that the pureblood supremacists would see her and any of her children as lower than low to white British squibs. Even in war torn Eritrea, Asmara had heard of the miracle child called Harry Potter who survived the killing curse to defeat the pure blood supremacist Dark Lord, Lord Voldemort.

It had been a great shock to Asmara to discover that Harry Potter the magical boy was in her classroom and in the circumstances that he was in. She had sensed his power before he had entered the room that wet September morning. There could not be too many Harry Potters in the UK and there was the famous scar on this child's forehead. What was more shocking to her was this child was so down trodden and apparently did not know about his parents or his roots in the magical community? Reading his aura told her something was seriously wrong.

The young woman who had being keeping her magical heritage a secret from her husband had to come clean about her secret as she needed to discuss the situation with him. Asmara had not finished the first six week term before deciding that she would be moving on to a new school next year as there was no future for her kind at this school. The Head had made that clear to her she was a stopgap teacher to fill a late summer staffing shortage.

It was at a Bluestocking Union event for young teachers held in Woking where Asmara Mpheli met Rebecca Tracey on one Saturday during that first half term of the school year. Hearing that Asmara was at Rebecca Tracey's first teaching school had led to the young teacher making time to have a good gossip about the staff, students and their families that she knew especially since it sounded like Asmara had her old year group. Miss Tracey had flourished in a supportive school and now had more backbone than she did when she was trying to qualify at Little Whinging Primary.

Rebecca Tracey while not wanting to rock the boat made sure she had done her duty and raised her concerns about the young Harry Potter's home life by lodging a number of anonymous complaints with the County's Welfare and Safeguarding agency. It was blatantly obvious to Miss Tracey that the Headmaster would not support an official school based report to the Surrey County Council but at least she had done something. Hoping to hear some gossip of what happened to the horrible Dursley family Rebecca Tracey was horrified to find that nothing had happened. Asmara and Rebecca exchanged home phone numbers and they were going to meet to see if they could do something to get him out of Little Whinging since the system had failed the child.

During the Autumn half-term break Asmara bit the bullet and explained to Fezile her magical heritage. Magic in Africa is more accepted so it was not that great a shock to the young man concerned but he was a little hurt about her reluctance to inform him about this secret. When Fezile asked his wife why now for the disclosure the story of Asmara's student, Harry Potter, came out. Here in their new country they had a call to arms to continue in their political beliefs to fight another system of apartheid along with the need to rescue a young boy getting him to safety. All their past experience as political activists and members of their causes would be needed to protect this child.

The couple in their discussion of the situation and planning for the next actions both agreed that something was wrong in the state of Denmark. There needed to be a serious investigation into why this child had been abandoned. There was something more to this story that the public weren't being told. Surely the UK magical community would not desert their hero after his parents' sacrifice. The reporting to the non magical authorities should of resulted in action why had nothing been done? Was there someone stopping an investigation? Why would someone want to keep Harry Potter in an abusive non magical home? There was more than just his family not liking him when there had been several reports to the authorities. The fact there was no investigation after Rebecca Tracey most recent report to the Surrey County Safeguarding Unit indicated that that there was someone in the magical world who was controlling this child's situation. What was going on and why?


	2. Gathering Background Information

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.

**Chapter 2: Gathering Background Information.**

Fezile Mpheli was a dark skinned Renaissance man who could be called an African Leonardo Da Vinci. Not only was Fezile a trained Xhosa warrior, a soldier of the African National Congress (ANC) resistance cause but he was also an artistic academic. He had an intellectual gift that had been recognized by the Comunitern trainer advisors that had been associated with the ANC and the hidden members of the banned Communist Party of South Africa. Various Comunitern advisors or handlers over the years had helped to shape Fezile Mpheli into a leader, activist and warrior.

In his new country Fezile was determined to contribute towards the battle for freedom that was still going on in South Africa. He could see that they not have the same amount of support for their ANC goals due to the changes occurring in the West and the USSR due to Gorbachev's Glasnost policies. The cold war was winding down but the oppressed brothers and leaders like Madiba needed to be freed.

In his new home Fezile was using his computing skills working as a computer programmer and database administrator to bring an income into the Mpheli household. When not working both he and his wife were committed to various community organisations such as the National Refugee council supporting others who were in the same circumstances as their own and local branches of the political organisations they had belonged to in their homelands.

Asmara was working this year in Little Whinging so they had purchased as cheap second hand Nissan Micra so she could drive from Horsham to work easily. They were lucky that they were living in the same town as the administrative office of the Surrey Community Healthcare Alliance so Fez could effortlessly walk or take the bus to work. This healthcare organization had been started by the dentist Dr Emma Cawthorne with her husband Dr Dan Granger and had now included many other like minded allied health professionals with numerous practice offices found across Surrey. There were practice offices where those with greater financial ability supported other practices where patients did not have the same access to income to pay for their allied health care like Dentistry.

Dr Emma Cawthorne lived in Crawley with her husband and daughter however she also volunteered for an Aldershot community health practice based in Little Nepal, as she was keen to make sure that this group had access to appropriate dental treatment. Emma Cawthorne was the daughter of a regimental Colonel who served with the Brigade of Ghurkhas primarily based in Hong Kong but was later stationed at Aldershot. While Joanna Lumley was the face of the campaign to improve the pensions and care of the veteran Ghurkha soldiers and their families Emma could provide assistance now. That assistance was her specialism as a maxiofacial dental surgeon.

In the Little Nepal health clinic there were not only the western medical practitioners but also some of the traditional Nepalese practitioners. When Emma's daughter started to have strange events she had gone through the Western medical practice explanation and in desperation brought her to the Little Nepal Clinic where there was an ancient Subedar-Major Maniraj Bahadur who practiced traditional hill medicine.

The Subedar-Major advised Emma and Dan that their daughter was special and she could be encouraged in what ever she was interested in as it was important that she be kept active. The only concern that the retired Subedar-Major had was the girl child was not being physically active enough as she needed a strong body to maintain her strong mind. Yes this child had the glow of magic but unfortunately Subedar-Major Bahadur could not tell his old Young Commander's daughter that her child had magic as the UK Ministry of Magic would have his guts for garters for breaking the Statue of Secrecy. No he had to wait until Miss Hermione Granger was older before letting her family know about magic. However, if he could influence how Miss Emma looked after her child to support the spark then he would do so and sod the ruddy UK Ministry.

It was at the Surrey Community Healthcare Alliance Guy Fawkes Bonfire BBQ that Emma Cawthorne met Asmara Mpheli. It was in a general discussion about her volunteer work at the Little Nepal clinic and how there was a blend of Western and Eastern medicine practice there that lit a spark of an idea. If the old Subedar-Major was what Asmara thought he was it was possible that this man would have the information she needed to help the child in her classroom.

oOoOo

Asmara and Fezile booked a joint consultation appointment with the old Subedar-Major on the third Saturday in that November. It was with great amusement that Fezile walked through the Little Nepal district to the health clinic as he towered above all the population. There were market traders in the streets and it seemed that young and old were all out and about doing the Saturday shop. While there was colour on the streets that was welcoming Fezile felt that he stuck out even more so than the white population of Aldershot amongst the almond tints of the Ghurkha Nepalese Hill Tribes men and women. The coloured clothing of the women that included bright woollen patukas that covered them on a cold autumnal day cheered Fezile and Asmara. There was laughter but also quiet strength in the in the community assessed Fezile. The greeting of Namaste and the nodding of men wearing the Dhaka topis (Nepali hats) indicated that there was a general level of respect between the minority community and their English hosts. Even the White English food stall sellers were calling out in Nepali "Susti, Susti" (cheap, cheap) to advertise their wears for their customers.

Asmara was happy wearing her Zuria, as she felt that even though she was taller than most that she blended in well with the other ladies and their hoods. Sitting on a finely woven carpet with large comfortable pillows the Subedar-Major held their appointment over Chai that he made in their presence on a small brazier. After the welcoming formalities of the greetings and general discussion the tone of the appointment radically changed when the Subedar-Major's wife cleared away their teacups.

"So Accomplished One, What is the real reason for your visit with your wife?" he asked in a quiet whisper gripping his kukri at his waist.

The room suddenly chilled. How did this Hills tribesman know the English meaning of his name thought Fezile alert that he and Asmara needed to lay their cards on the table?

"Noble Elder we are new comers to this country as refugees. We are here today as we need some guidance from someone knowledgeable of both Western and non Western things. There are some things which Western science cannot understand and is not openly spoken about here in the UK but in our homelands we agree it exists", explained Fezile. The honest quiet speech of the man led to a loosening of the grip that the Subedar-Major had on his wickedly curved knife blade.

"Are we talking about the Statute of Secrecy", inquired the dancing eyed man. Subedar-Major had a small smirk of a grin on his face as he bantered with the pair in his consultation.

"I am called a squib in this country" announced Asmara being bluntly direct to him.

"No my butterfly you are just not a wand user your aura indicates that your skills are in another area but I don't think in the mortars and bombs of your childhood there has been time to find your niche". Asmara was stunned and now had a fish like look of shock on her face.

"You will catch flies my child. I can see your auras. You are much more clearer now that you have told the truth", advised the wizened old man.

The meeting was informative and the Subedar-Major explained that what they discussed would not be able to be taken from him, as he would occlude the discussion details. Yes he agreed that there was something wrong in the situation and living conditions of one Harry James Potter. Further investigation of the UK Magical community would be needed and may be this couple could help not only the boy but also Emma's child.

oOoOo

The next time Emma volunteered at the Little Nepal Clinic the Subedar-Major asked her to pass a message onto Fezile that his herbs had arrived so he could come and pick up his special paste next week.

"Why tell me?" queried Emma.

"Child this couple need your help but are too proud to ask it from you. Let them see your bright light and feel your warmth. Both of them a refugees who are like many of the veterans you help here" was the kind and patient response from the man who she had known all her life.

Emma knew she had been schooled and there must be more to it. On her way back to Crawley she dropped by Fezile and Asmara's flat were she left a note that the Subedar-Major wanted to see Fezile so he could pick up his prescribed herbal paste.

Mid week Fezile dropped by Emma and Dan's dental practice and thanked Emma in person for her note. At the same time Fezile issued a luncheon invitation to the Granger family to join them for Sunday lunch to celebrate the start of Advent. There was a community meal at the local Eritrean Community Club that Asmara had volunteered to help with. This meal would have traditional food and drink served and they wanted to thank Emma and her family for all their help since Fezile started with the Health Care Alliance.

oOoOo

The next Saturday morning found Fezile in Aldershot having chai with the Subedar-Major. His appointment was for 11:30am so when they had done the exchange of information about what they had learnt the healer produced a cream for Fezile's burn scars.

"It will lighten the brightness of the pink scar tissue and encourage the pigmentation cells to return to that area of the burn. We may not get rid of all the marks of war but we make them less startling", Subedar-Major advised that Xhosa warrior before taking him out to lunch to meet some other local warriors that would be eating at a local café. It was during this meal that Fezile invited the Subedar-Major and his good wife to join him and Asmara at the Sunday luncheon. When the Subedar–Major raised the concern about beef as they were Hindu, Fezile explained that since it was the start of Advent they would only be eating vegetarian or fish dishes and he had asked Ms Cawthorne and her family to the event as well.

oOoOo

When Fezile got home to Asmara that afternoon he felt like a senior control officer was debriefing him. She was good at sucking every little piece of information out of him. The questions of this detail and that detail pulled information out of him that he had not realized that he had taken in. Asmara was definitely a good information control officer when she finished his debrief she produced a report and synopsis of the key points very quickly before offering her husband coffee. The time taken to brew the traditional coffee enabled both of them to collect their ideas and identify the key points of the discussion the believed they needed to have with the Subedar-Major.

In school that week Asmara had slipped in the customs of her homeland into part of the lessons and since food was a key representation of the cultural practices of Eretria she was able to slip some additional samples to young Harry. He looked like his bones were going to cut through his skin he was that thin. Young Dudley had started mouthing off his father's bigot opinions about her and people like her. Asmara while normally very gentle by nature she couldn't stand a bigoted bully. After stomping hard on the poor behaviour by the boy she advised him that Eretria was a Christian country long before Europe was which shocked the whale considerably.

The children were taught how to make injera the traditional bread as part of health and science. There was a comparison between wheat based bread and taff seed only bread. They also made a lightly spiced vegetable stew that was what Asmara's mother used to call Pot Luck Zigni as it basically what ingredients were cheap at the market. In addition to the zigni the children also made Tum 'tum (savoury lentils). The savoury lentils were a hit with many of the children when they tried it. The potluck zigni with its tomato based sauce was popular with most however; some children were not that keen.

Dudley had rudely spat it out onto his plate making Asmara glad she had modified the eating traditions to an individual plate arrangement. The boy whale needed to be taught table manners. Asmara was definitely going to be calling the school nurse in again about the weight of the child. Since Dudley had loudly stated that he was not keen on foreign muck Asmara would be able to slip his cousin some food so he could keep awake in class.

oOoOo

It was an interesting Sunday lunch at the Eritrean Community Club for the guests of Fezile and Asmara. It was Asmara's turn to be part of the cooking group so Fezile had bagged a table that was close to the kitchen but in a quiet corner. When the Subedar-Major and his wife arrived Fezile had to explain to the two elderly individuals that they would be greeted a lot as elder respect was a key aspect of Eritrean culture. Young Miss Hermione Granger greeted the two Nepalese with a Namaste and low bow he noticed to which the Subedar-Major replied with low worded blessing and tap to her head. Asmara had come out and greeted their guests checking if there were any specific concerns about spice heat or ingredient issues that she needed to consider for her guests. In particular Asmara wanted to find out if Hermione would be able to eat some spice. The Subedar-Major's little wife let out a chortle. "That child has an asbestos lined stomach and mouth that can eat like a locust".

It was after that comment that the child concerned nudged her mother to ask if they could come and help. Asmara was surprised to find that the young Miss Hermione Granger had done her homework and read up on Eritrean cultural practices. Deevyah Bahadur was a dab hand at preparing vegetables and the little Nepali woman was quickly put to work on that production line that was going in the kitchen while the Granger girls were put into the injera making production line. Listening to the tinkle of a daughter's laughter brought a smile to Dan Granger's face it was not a sound that he heard often enough for his liking. The three men found that they had the bond of old warriors over coffee.

When the kitchen detail returned the large community room seemed to quickly fill with many arriving to enjoy the wonderful Sunday luncheon. Deevyah and the Subedar-Major were swamped with reverential greetings from everyone. Fez had to laugh when Dan mentioned that old Subedar should be used to his fame as the same thing happened whenever he went to events in Little Nepal. "Tin britches here is a god like figure in his community I can see he was thinking he was going to get a day off from being the local demi god" advised Deevyah before adding "as a typical male he was wrong yet again".

It seemed to the males concerned at the round table that it didn't matter what race or creed you where you were sensible if you went with the flow that was the will of your wife. Hermione looked cute in the Zuria that she had been presented with although she would be struggling to keep it clean eating her dinner as there were no cutlery. Fez had warned the Subedar-Major that he was likely to be ritually fed by Asmara as he was sitting to her right. The gursa was a traditional practice of respect and honour at the table.

It was after lunch when the guests had gone that Fezile contemplated the family. There was the wonder of the young Miss Granger's intellect with her logical and well thought out queries. Her father Dan had a quiet manner with a deep laugh the belied his seriously dangerous look. He was an old Lion thought Fez there had been times during the male only conversation that the predatory old soldier look had come out from the hidden depths of the dentist. Yes the man had killed and knew the dangers of the battlefield. Fez would have to do some research about the obvious jibes from the Subedar-Major about those lazy Hereford Boys and their piss pour selection process for their unit. It was a couple of days later that it clicked in Fezile's brain that Hereford Boys were a reference to the Special Air Service. Dan Granger had only said "The Twenty Second" or "The Regiment" when referring to his former military associations.

From that luncheon onwards found Fez participating in a bi-weekly meet up with the Subedar-Major. His cream had worked really well on his scars and they were now not so obvious to the eye. The pink was definitely lessoning which was surprising since he had been told that his scars would never return to his normal skin tone.

The Grangers had replicated the meal invite for the next Friday and it was interesting for Fezile as it turned out that like he and Asmara there were different cultural traditions between the two partners. Ms Emma Cawthorne was a different entity for Fezile when she was in her own home she became Mrs Dan Granger. Slightly more approachable, more light hearted, less authoritarian even though she obviously ruled the household. Dan apparently was the designated cook for the evening and it was going to be a Malaysian night.

Dan had earlier confirmed with Fezile during the week that fish was eaten by both of them during Advent since the luncheon had been completely vegetarian. There were a number of dishes both vegetable and fish however all seemed to have a decedent smell that was enticing from outside on the footpath. Similar to the Eritrean tradition they had a round table and this time it appeared that chopsticks, ceramic spoons or fingers were the main form of cutlery for the evening along with something which Dan called a lazy-Susan. There was Asam pedas, Sambal Undang, Pasembur, Ikan bakar, Char kuey teow, Popih, along with generous bowls of vegetable curry Laksa. Asmara had enjoyed the various condiments but loved the Sambal Ulek that Fezile personally thought would be a quick way to fry your brain after it burnt through your tongue.

It was while Miss Hermione loaded the dish washer when Fezile thought that he probably looked like a Biafrian he was that full. Emma had set up a dripolator system for coffee and it looked like round two was to come their way. He was most happy to discover it was to be fruit. There were some fruits that he was not familiar with but it certainly cleaned the palate.

It was a little after Hermione's bedtime over coffee did Asmara let the Grangers know about their concerns for a little boy in her class. The history of prior reports and how she was sure she would have been contacted by now was mentioned. As they were fellow professionals what was their experience in the past in safeguarding reporting. Asmara highlighted her fears about the up coming break over the Christmas and New Year period, there was a horrifying thought wondering if the child would even be fed.

Emma and Dan both agreed that something strange was going on as normally reports from teachers and school nurses were quickly acted upon in their experience. Asmara was going to see the Subedar– Major the next day in his traditional healing practice as she needed some help to deal with the stress of her whole worries about this child and the danger he was in.


	3. Bright and Clean

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.

**Chapter 3: Bright and Clean**

Asmara's appointment with the Subedar-Major was his last for the Saturday morning, as it seem that fate would have many out doing Christmas shopping rather than complaining about their aches and pains. After reviewing Asmara's stress levels he agreed that she had a reason to be concerned over the situation. So he advised on a treatment plan to help with her stress.

Deevyah was chatting with Asmara while she was waiting for Fezile to return from moving the car to avoid the dreaded NCP parking patrol. In this lull the Subedar-Major made some phone calls first to Dan to see if he and Hermione could join Emma for lunch at their home. The second call was to a little known service at Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

"Account Manager Rakshi you have a call," advised the smaller goblin.

"Account Manager Rakshi speaking," the tall older snow haired goblin intoned royally on the telephone.

"Namaste Rakshi. May your honour be bright and keen," said the voice that belonged to his old friend Maniraj Bahadur.

"Namaste Mani. May your kukri be the same," which received a chuckle from the Nepalese caller.

"Are you free for lunch today my good sir" inquired the Subedar-Major.

"For your wife's cooking I would cut down a swathe of troublesome wizards. Most certainly."

"Do you want to bring that nephew of yours who drives like a demon?" questioned the Subedar-Major indicating that this was also likely to be a business luncheon and he should clear his afternoon.

"Young Griphook. Yes it is time to teach him the next level of divine spice," chuckled the older goblin with a frightening smile.

"Well come over to the flat in an hour. We will have some guests who need a briefing about our world first," advised the veteran.

When Fezile returned to the community practice Deevyah led the young couple out to pick up some extra items on their way to the flat for their additional guests leaving the Subedar-Major to wait for the rest of the Grangers to join Emma. As Emma completed tidying up her workspace the Subedar-Major advised he had organised for Dan and Hermione to join them for lunch as he had some important information to discuss with them. Emma had gone into alert mode as her senses were singing to the point where there was a tight coil of tension in the pit of her stomach. What was going on?

When Dan and Hermione arrived they locked up the practice and walked down the street to the Subedar-Major's flat.

oOoOo

Not long after the Grangers and the Subedar-Major had arrived at the flat there was a knock on the door. There were two gentlemen who looked like the Subedar-Major but there was something about their auras that put Asmara on alert. Fez noted her tension and was watching the scene closely.

"Namaste Rakshi, Namaste Griphook," greeted the Subedar-Major introducing the two strangers to the rest of his guests.

"Namaste Sahdu and Madam Bahadur", greeted the younger one of the two newcomers who was identified as Griphook.

"May your honour be bright and clean and your enemies littered on the ground," replied the Subedar-Major before introducing all his guests to each other. It was over chai, brewed to perfection by his wife, that the Subedar-Major introduced the Grangers to the existence of magic and magical beings. Emma laughed and asked what was in the tea especially when Rakshi and Griphook dropped their glamours.

"Madam Granger – we are members of the Goblin nation and the Subedar-Major is also a healer, holy man, mystic what you would call a magician wizard member of his hill tribe. That is why my nephew called him Sahdu. Now why this is important to you Madam is for a number of reasons that I hope the old warhorse here is hopefully going to fish me out of the drink any moment now to exlpain them," advised the older goblin.

"Emma, Dan and Hermione I need you to drink this calming draft first as we will be ripping the band aid off on a number of things and if you are calm then it would go a lot quicker," advised the Subedar-Major. Taking their faith in the man who they had know for many years all three Grangers downed the herbal drafts before finding out that Hermione had the spark of magic. The current state of play for the UK magical society was very quickly outlined in bare bones terminology. It was after this outline that Asmara dropped her bombshell that she was of magical decent.

"So why tell us today? Why did you not say anything before?" inquired Dan who sensed that there was an underlying reason for the whole luncheon meeting.

"Because Asmara needs our help for the child she has spoken about to you. He is a magical child and my sources confirmed he is not in a suitable living environment. What we do next will depend on the assistance of the Goblin Nation and yourselves? Previously I was not able to tell you anything due to the law until Hermione was a little older. However, the child needs help and your family may be one way we can help him", advised a tired and weary traditional healer.

Lunch was a little subdued after the discussion of a child who needed to be moved into a suitable home. Apparently many had attempted to get the child into a safe living environment but it had been concluded by the Subedar-Major's intelligence gatherers that the individuals themselves in the safeguarding unit had been oblivated or made to forget about the case. Additionally the lazy individuals doing the cover up had forgotten to complete the job by removing the case from the electronic files.

That the cover up was not completed properly clearly indicated to both the Subedar-Major and the Goblins that they were definitely talking about a UK pureblood or half blood wizard who was brought up in the UK magical community. This was not someone who crossed both communities like a first generation witch or wizard someone like Hermione.

When the Subedar-Major said the child's name out aloud for the first time, Dan swore the goblins went ghostly pale. Getting down to tin tacks after the luncheon the Subedar-Major was explaining the help needed from the Grangers while young Griphook had been sent off with a missive to Ragnok the Head of the Goblin nation.

"Lets be honest here Emma there is no way the Mpehlis could be granted approved foster parent status for the child as they have the wrong ethnicity under the current social welfare policies. You and Dan are the right colour and the right background for the non-magical community to be appropriate foster parents.

It is too dangerous for him to be fostered within the magical community as it appears that there is someone working to obstruct his removal," explained the Subedar-Major just before the group was startled by a pop. Fez, Asmara, Dan and Emma had all reacted to look for the danger or threat. Emma's automatic response was surprising for Rakshi, as he did not know that English women were also trained as warriors.

"Stand down!" the Subedar-Major commanded with a parade ground voice that belied his statue.

"Namaste Honourable Ragnok! May your honour be bright and keen and you blade just as sharp when dried from your enemies blood" intoned the Subedar-Major.

Since the stranger was greeted so reverentialy by the Subedar-Major the rest of the humans present greeted the new Goblin in the same manner shocking the War Chieftain, as he had been too long in the world of arrogant wizards who belittled his kind as dirt beneath their shoes.

"General Rakshi I have received your missive why am I here and not on our territory? Why must I visit the human lands?"

"Sir I believe we need to protect a key account holder as I said in my missive. For security reasons you are here, as we need to keep the human faces here in this room in the shadows. Bringing them through Diagon Alley would be counter productive", explained Rakshi.

"Knew you were brass" muttered Dan. There was something about the way old soldiers carry themselves and it was easy to tell troops from brass by their mannerisms.

"Oi Daniel Granger you were commissioned so don't talk about brass as you were one of them Mr Captain Sir. I have your full docket here and thanks to the Ghurkha intelligence network I even have details of a certain May Day adventure you had," advised Subedar-Major before handing over the dossier to the General and his War Chieftain.

"Daniel Granger", queried Emma in that tone that all husbands know could indicate their immediate demotion to the sofa also known as being sent to Coventry in the Granger household.

"National Security love. I have signed the Official Secrets Act. Sorry love cant say a thing," explained Dan hoping it would save him from the frostbitten frontier of a cold sofa remembering a certain May Day weekend when Hermione was a baby.

During all this a young set of ears belonging to Hermione Granger had settled into listening. When Fez asked the girl why she was so silent he found out that she was listening and learning. "I am sure the Subedar-Major will answer all my questions later when the important people have finished their meeting", she explained in a slightly breathless voice from all the excitement she was experiencing.

There was a chuckle from Deevyah who produced a note pad and pen for the girl so she could start her list. The Subedar-Major's look of horror was a moment of light relief before the pop of Griphook's return to the flat brought the return of the intense meeting environment. After reading the initial missive of General Rakshi, Ragnok had sent the nephew off to collect additional details about the Potter accounts from the records. Quickly after his arrival Griphook passed over these report folios to the War chief and General.

"Griphook did you get these copies undetected," demanded War Chieftain Ragnok.

"Yes Sir. The current incumbents do not know I have copied their files and ledgers. I also took the initiative to save your time and gather copies of the Black accounts when I saw the draft notes of the Potter parental wills. It is believed that a signed copy of the final Potter wills is located in the main vault but accessing this document would alert too many. However, I believe that there is a wider net to this canker and we will have to play our cards very very carefully. This whole situation is like an Open Misere call," advised the small administrative goblin who was working is way through the various divisions of the bank before moving into senior management. As the nephew of both the General and War Chieftain it was expected that he would rapidly move up the ranks of middle and upper management.

"It appears were right in our assessment that we are up against someone extremely powerful," advised Rakshi after a quick review of the folios that Griphook had presented to him.

"I would like to nail that old coot to the wall", stated Ragnok, which caused all three goblins to smirk.

Rakshi had passed his copy of one Potter file to the Subedar-Major's who looked at the details before exclaiming, "Jai Mahakali I would use my Kukri to cut his beard and stuff it in his mouth along with the phrase of 'for the greater good'".

"I know I was in the army but you don't need to do the aeral manoeuvres like the pouncy RAF flyboys to prove that fact to me. Who and what are we dealing with? The plebs here would like to know what it is you want our help for, " spat out a clearly irate Dan Granger.

Ragnok looked at Rakshi for clarification. "Army in a gore filled dirt trench while flyboys clean and out of the firing line" explained the Subedar-Major.

"Loose Lips sink Battleships", cautioned Emma Cawthorne Granger indicating that she was greatly concerned about the presence of Hermione, who seemed to be lapping up the whole adult conversation.

"Augh Mum" whined the child concerned who was mentally older than her physical body. She had twigged that her mother wanted her out of the room and the conversation zone, just when it was starting to get very interesting.

"Deevyah could you take Miss Hermione to my study to select a book," asked her husband to which the young witch brightened. Subedar-Major had many interesting books in his study and it was a rare treat to have access to his precious resources.

On Deevyah's return to the lounge sitting area carpets the Subedar-Major waved his hand and Asmara felt the shift in power. With her glance in the direction of the study Fez knew something had happened. "Just simple wards and privacy charms so the little pitchers will not hear any more of our discussion", advised the small wiry wizard healer while flicking his ear.

"The man concerned, Albus Dumbledore, is the current holder of three key positions in the UK magical society. He really should not be in all three and so has a fairly insurmountable powerbase for getting his own will. Like many that have been unchallenged for years he has fallen into the fallacy that he is all knowing all seeing always correct never wrong. Since he is the 8th and 9th wonder of the world the wizard thinks that he has all the information and knows what is best. He is the head of the Wizengamot, the UK representative to the International Wizards Confederation and he is the Headmaster of Hogwarts", explained the Subedar-Major.

"So this pooh bar is the head honcho of everything and is in a prime position to indoctrinate the next generations about his almighty sanctified saint hood but really is a real despot ala Idi Amien" summarised Dan.

"Right in one" confirmed Rakshi with supporting nods of agreement from Asmara, Deevyah, and the Subedar-Major.

"Well there is no way my girl is going near that crackpot", spluttered the angry father.

"We hope to have cut his balls off by then and get some serious changes occurring in the UK magical community. We can't take Harry out of the UK community, as he is the hope for the future peace. Now if we can make sure that he is bright, well adjusted and prepared for this new world that he will enter at 11. We can make sure he has the right social values", stated Ragnok.

"Doesn't that make us the same as this Dumbledore fellow?" inquired Emma.

"No as his parents had your values Emma and Dan. His mother was a first generation witch while his father was a pureblood. His father, James, did not hold with the pureblood supremacist malarkey his friends were a sign of that. His choice of wife and his actions as an Auror hitwizard demonstrated that he did not hold those beliefs" advised the Subedar-Major.

"One of his childhood best friends was a werewolf", stated Ragnok with some admiration. "In all my dealings with his father, Charlus, and young James there was always mutual respect unlike so many of their peers.

The room was quiet. The magicals were sad that their future had been hindered with the death of the Potters. While the non-magicals where coming to terms with the idea that some myths were actually true.

"We have a proverb – It takes a village to raise a child. Why just stop with one child or two children, Harry and Hermione. Why not get a movement going?" asked Fezile looking intently at each adult with the fire of passion in his eyes. "We have all been soldiers to the cause and believe in change and improvement. Why not undermine the UK Wizarding society? It sounds like just another apartheid system to me. They are racist bigots now. Why not get Harry out saying that he was sent to his mother's cousins in Australia? Get the Aunt to sign the custody papers thinking the kid is leaving the country with your misdirection skills."

Fezile paused sipping his chai before expanding his thought provoking ideas. "Non magical UK today is multiracial. Why isn't the UK magical community? Let us build a coalition now by getting the first generation kids trained up and prepared before Hogwarts. When the first generation children go to Hogwarts currently they have little or no prior knowledge. They are unprepared and will always be paddling like mad to keep up and fit in to the school and their new society. Being behind the eight ball hinders them. Let's build the networks and requisite prior knowledge up before the kids get to Hogwarts entry age. We will need to ensure that Harry and Hermione receive some specialist training and preparation by access to additional and detailed subject knowledge. It sounds like Harry Potter will always be a figurehead for the movement. Hermione with her intellect is always going to be a mover and shaker in the central executive of the first generation and mixed heritage movement as she has your core values", expounded the academic warrior.

The blinks of wonderment went on for quiet a while as the group absorbed Fezile's grand idea. Suddenly they had an idea per se and the rest of the afternoon was spent in planning the operation and what needed to be done to get it off the ground.


	4. Blues and Twos

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.

**Chapter 4: Blues and Twos**

It had been an intense weekend for the new political movement that had been born that December Saturday afternoon in the Little Nepal district of Aldershot. From the indications of the Potter wills it appeared that there was a reason why the Black heir had never received a trial and that was that someone most likely Albus Dumbledore wanted to control the Potter heir. There was enough evidence of financial mismanagement of the Potter Estate that there were going to be some serious questions asked by the torturers to see how far the rot was within Gringotts.

The exit strategy for the young child was to use the cover of a distant Evans cousin had all been set up. The Grangers Crawley house had been goblin warded on the Sunday. Rakshi had increased his management portfolio by taking over the private and business banking needs for the Grangers and their associates. Griphook would be the day to day administrator. A former care home property on the outskirts of Aldershot not too far from the current Ghurkha logistics base was purchased and would be undergoing refurbishment. The new Mahakali School and community centre would be opening there in the New Year. This new school would provide a range of educational programs for many age groups including a magical curriculum for those who had the spark come next September.

A couple of Gringotts squib operatives spent the Sunday in the Little Whinging area to see if there was any members of the UK magical community they could identify. It seemed that they were right to be cautious as there was a Squib. One Mrs Arabella Figg living in the same street and she seemed to have some sort of contact with the Dursleys. With a general overview of the banks squib client ledger it was clear that she was the only residence in the street that they would have to be careful about. It appeared that Mrs Figg was receiving payments from a front organization that was some how linked to Albus Dumbledore.

In the end it was a former comrade of Dan who was put upon to help out to perform the exit strategy for the child from this horrible home. His mate Digger was an Australian who had been serving in the SAS when he was in the regiment. Digger's wife was a local Hereford girl but unlike many regimental wives she was also in the army rather than being a civiy. She had been home on leave with her family when Digger chatted her up in the local pub. Due to her experience and her relationship with her husband she had occasionally been pressed into service to help out in ops. So Digger and Sue were going to pose as the cousins who would take the child back to Australia. A second former comrade Lefty was going to spruce himself up and play the born again door knocker to ensure that there was a suitable diversion.

In the Granger household Emma and Hermione along with Asmara had created a room for Harry. They had been out to outlet stores to get boyish bed sheets and other soft furnishings so he would have space that was clearly his when he arrived. They had also undertaken some basic clothes purchases for Harry to tide him over until they could take him to the shops where he would have some input into the selection of his own clothing.

Griphook had spent most of Sunday chasing all over England for a certain wizard. When he finally got hold of him he was going to express his extreme displeasure for the official owl postal block that he seemed to have up. That was not all the troublesome wizard needed to update his records with the Ministry of Magic, as it appeared that they were woefully out of date. In the end it had taken a combination of legwork, calling upon former landlords, the use of BT Directory Services and a little illegal trip to the British Library Reading Room to track the man down. Now all he had to do is wait for his return to his digs so Griphook could pitch the job they wanted to contract him for. The goblin was pretty certain that the wizard concerned would say yes cause it would definitely improve his circumstances. Griphook was going to be visiting the healers when he got back to the bank cause this wizard was living in a rough seedy part of the muggle world and you couldn't tell what disease he could of picked up waiting for the man.

oOoOo

Hermione was thrilled that she was going to have a brother who lived with her almost the same age as her. Here was someone who she could befriend they already had a point of common interest thanks to Magic. The Subedar-Major after the formal meeting and then dinner that Saturday evening had faced the questioning of Miss Hermione. Observing her list of questions and her discussion of points of logic with the healer Fezile thought she was channelling the Spanish Inquisition. This child had a very high intellect and he was sure that some of her questions were all most first year university level.

oOoOo

Monday morning arrived in the Mpheli household and Asmara was wired. She had not slept well. Today was the last day that Harry was going to be with his horrible family and in her classroom at Little Whinging. She had a hard role to play today and then for the rest of the academic year as she could not let the game away. It was with great excitement at 6am in the morning when Asmara typed her resignation letter from Little Whinging Primary. She felt so much lighter just in drafting it. Asmara was going to be the good little teacher drone and offer to continue out the school year but the reality was she only had to give a terms notice. The additional time in the school if they kept her on to the end of the school year would be to enable her to keep an eye out for any follow up from the magical world when they got Harry out.

At lunch time Asmara phoned Fez to advise that she handed her letter in and the package he was waiting for had arrived. The last was the code phrase to confirm that Harry was in school and his Aunt Petunia was at home. Digger and Sue were now set into motion as it was blues and twos for the operation. Digger kicked off his role with a call to the Dursley household. It was laid on thick and fast that they were distant cousins back over in the Old country to visit his missus family and they were looking up some of his cousins. After going through the basic rigmarole of who was who in the family tree it was arranged that they drop by to see the Dursleys for a drink before they left town on the train that night.

Petunia thought it was interesting that she had an Australian distant cousin who was currently visiting the country look her up. They were obviously on a tight time frame but they were not going to be an inconvenience looking for a room like Marge did for weeks on end. No there was a phone call to make contact and a short appointment arranged before moving on leaving her house to her, Vernon and Dudley. She would have to make sure that the freak was properly dressed so after a phone call to Vernon telling him to be home early as she had some important visitors coming who could be potential clients in Australia for him. She picked up the keys and headed out to Marks and Sparks to get a fruitcake and sponge she could pass off as her own hard work and some cheap clothes from TKMAXX for the brat.

When Harry and Dudley finished school that afternoon they were surprised by Petunia being there to collect both of them. Normally Harry had to walk to and from school while Dudley and his mother had bonding time in the car. The whole drive home was a litany of instructions for the boy. While Dudders was having his bath he had to vacuum and tidy downstairs. He could then have his bath while giving the bathroom a clean before getting dressed for their visitors. The next lot of instructions where what he could and couldn't do while the visitors were at the house as there was to be No Freakish behaviour with an exclamation mark. Arriving at 4 Privet Drive Harry sighed as he got out of the car as it sounded no matter what he did he was going to get into trouble for something this evening.

Digger and Sue Evans arrived at Privet Drive looking at the blandness promptly at 5pm as they had arranged with Petunia Evans Dursley. Digger had been practicing is Okker accent all afternoon to ensure he had their cover story down pat. Normally he toned down his accent so he could be understood. Arriving in a Jaguar with a driver put the Dursleys on the alert. Both of the visiting Evans had been wired up to ensure if there was any juicy information; Dan's mates would get it. Lefty was working his way down the street with his Bible and his copies of the local Baptist church Newsletter.

The initial pleasantries were done and the children were sent to watch the TV quietly in the lounge room. Harry was most surprised that he was given this rare treat so was sitting to attention on his floor cushion. Petunia had set the table up with her Wedgewood china and every thing was ready for a high afternoon tea. The sponge and the plain white iced fruitcake were both on her matching Venetian glass cake displays. She had picked up the necessary items to ensure that there were fancy sandwich trays.

"You didn't have to go to all this trouble Pet", advised Digger shortening her name and confirming that he was the stereotypical Aussie male. "Vernon mate help me out the tea is for the missuses you wouldn't happen to have a coldie in the fridge" implored the male.

"No but how about a scotch," suggested Vernon, wondering what the heck a coldie was?

"Lifesaver mate! Tell me what do you do for a crust?" asked Digger leading the man to glorify himself and getting him out of the conversation role. It was obvious that the ball of lard would happily participate in self-glorification. Less chances of details catching up on him more chances of him dropping details for them to follow up.

Sue had the hard job. Going over the family details with Petunia and producing photos of her and Digger on their last trip to Australia to give additional colour. Now was the time to rope the prey.

"Petunia it must be so hard for you looking after Lily's boy with your own. There is something not right in him," advised Sue.

"Don't you just know it? Just like my sister headstrong and riotous. He keeps breaking everything and never realizes that things like pound notes doesn't grow on trees" whined the woman glad to have someone else in her family agree that there was something wrong with the boy.

"Did Lily and her husband at least have an ISA or insurance policy to help with the cost of raising him?" probed Sue pushing to get more details.

"No her friends just dumped him on us and we have not seen hide or hare of a single pound let alone a pence for the trouble we have with him. We are luckier now as Vernon is quite successful and has moved up the management chain but at the time it was very tight. We had saved for years so we could get the house and have Dudders. Our plan was that I would stay at home until he went to High school before returning back to work but it looks like I will have to go out to work soon if I want to update the kitchen or do any updates to the house as that boy seems to suck all the money out of Vernon's pay packet", complained the woman seeking the solidarity of having their plans scuppered by a feckless sibling.

Having a second piece of the fruitcake Digger threw his bait out seeing that they seemed ready for it. "Well mate I just might have the solution for you as we were going up North to take guardianship of Sue's nephew so we could take him back to the station and help straighten him out. I have some extra's of the paperwork in the boot of the Jag we could do the same for you. Give him to us and we would put him to work on station when he wasn't doing schoolwork. It is not like he would be able to runaway it is a hundred miles to the front gate. Watchya think about it?" rushed the man. He looked at his watch. "Sue darling we really must cut and run as we have to get that train soon".

There was a look between the two Dursley adults and it was yes we could get this done.

"Petunia dear I need to powder my nose can you show me the way" inquired Sue. After leading Sue upstairs to the bathroom Petunia used her position behind Digger to signal to Vernon that she was all for it. She mouthed that Vernon needed to get them outside to the car while she packed up a small bag for Harry to get them on their way. This way they could pack up tonight and be on their way to Marge and spend the Christmas break visiting her for a change. Dudley could just start his holidays early.

When Sue had come back downstairs she let Digger know she was ready to head off. "Well are yah game?" inquired Digger.

"Lets go and look over the paperwork while Petunia packs a small bag" advised Vernon almost dancing with joy at the thought of getting rid of the troublesome freak.

With a quick opening of the boot Digger retrieved the paperwork and Petunia brought a stunned Harry who had been told not to stuff it up for them as he was going on a trip with her cousin. "Pack all you things cause they might want to take you to Australia with them if you play your cards right!" advised Petunia. Yes that would get his best behaviour and he would be out of the country before the fools noticed his freakish behaviour. In the bottom of the hold all Petunia had put a shoebox that contained all the records she had for the boy including the letter when he was left. The box also had photos of her sister and some of the last letters she had from Lily but she really did not care. She put some of Dudders older shirts and the boy's school uniforms into the bag. There was a pair of worn pjs that he could have along with the toiletries.

With a sharp word to the boy he emptied the cupboard of his things adding only a few odds and ends including the blanket he arrived in. Toiletries were added and he was guided out to the car were the paperwork was quickly filled in and all Petunia had to do was sign. "I have put all his papers in a box for you as you will need to organise a passport for him but other than that I did not think you would need much clothes wise. Thank you for this. We are going up to see Marge Vernon's sister for the break," advised Petunia with a smile that looked like it would hurt. To Harry his aunt's smile was so wide it would break her face soon as it was that much of a difference to her normal sneer. She had purposely not said were Marge was so if they wanted to give him back too bad they would not be found. Even three weeks without the boy would be wonderful.

"Here have a copy of the papers which I have filled out so you have something for your records. You might need that when you pull him out of the school if you could do that for us.

"No problem at all. No problem at all. I will do that for you first thing in the morning," intoned Vernon.

Lefty was there at the doorstep of Mrs Figg when she saw the boy, Harry, leave in the backseat of the chauffer driven Jaguar. She was not able to hear what was going on as this bible basher was chewing her ear off about the local Baptist ministry.

"Sorry I am CofE I just have to catch up with my neighbours so you need to go" advised the spry woman.

"Oh that's the lady of the house cousins from Australia apparently they are taking the orphan nephew with them to help collect her brother's son up North. They are going to visit his sister while they take the boy on their break" advised Lefty.

After dropping the gossip nuggets on number four he spent the next 30 minutes giving her the rest of the gossip for the street house by house. This gossip session was to ensure that there was a delay in any notification of Albus Dumbledore allowing the Jaguar party a clean getaway. Lefty then moved on to the next couple of houses in the street keeping up the cover of being a local Baptist Church member.

oOoOo

Sitting in the backseat of the car looking out the left hand rear window Harry was surprised when it stopped a large Edwardian house in Crawley. There at the bay window looking out onto the drive was his schoolteacher Mrs Mpheli. What was going on? When the lady, Sue, opened the car door Mrs Mpheli rushed through the garage area to greet him.

"We have got him! We have got him!" she cried before picking him up in a joyful hug. "Welcome to freedom" she advised "We are never sending you back to those horrible people ever. Now we have some people who would like to meet you the Grangers they are going to be your new family.


	5. We have got him!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.

**Chapter 5: We have got him!**

"We have got him! We have got him!" she cried before picking him up in a joyful hug. "Welcome to freedom" she advised "We are never sending you back to those horrible people ever. Now we have some people who would like to meet you the Grangers they are going to be your new family.

Moving through the garage Harry was discretely checked for tracking charms by the glamoured Griphook and there appeared to be none on his person however when it got to his bag there was some detected. While Harry was taken into the house to meet Emma Granger the charms were all moved on to a gum packet. The packet was handed along with the horrible clothing onto Digger and Sue who promptly boxed it up into a parcel and addressed it to the York Garrison, Imphal Barracks. One suspicious package and you could bet the local boys in York would be blowing this one up as a preliminary precaution especially since it would be sent from central London.

oOoOo

Digger and Sue joined the group inside after dropping all their false luggage and wire tapping equipment off in the garage bringing just the brief case inside. Griphook took charge of the recording equipment and the parcel before port keying away to Diagon Alley. He sent a runner out to deliver the parcel to the Finsbury Park sorting office. There Albus Dumbledore track that package! The young Goblin had a gruesome grin on his face for the rest of the working day that frightened many a wizarding customer and created some wonderment amongst the tellers on duty in the main banking hall.

Sitting on the comfortable couch next Mrs Mpheli in the warm welcoming lounge room, Harry was in a daze as it was explained to him that he was a special little boy. Apparently there had been many attempts to get him to a better home. Even Miss Tracey his reception teacher was now present in the lounge room with Mrs Granger to help explain that many people who cared had tried and tried to get him away from the Dursleys. Since they had got the papers signed for Digger and Sue Evans as his guardians they would need to do some new papers for him. As someone was trying to keep him in the bad place they would have to be a little sneaky and asked him what new name he would like to use to hide under for the next couple of years so he could grow up and become an adult safe and sound.

"I don't know. I only learnt my name when you told me it in class that first day Miss Tracey" said Harry who was so pleased that he was right and there had to be someone who didn't want him to get away from the Dursleys. "I don't even know my parents names", he explained with a choked up voice.

At the end of this statement the driver who now had his cap off and a shoe box in his hands came into the room. "Hi I am Dan Granger and I think I can help you with that question". Pulling out a white and red paper from the box Mr Granger opened up his birth certificate for the first time showing Harry his parents' names.

"Well mate we are going to leave you tonight with the Grangers and will see you tomorrow" advised Digger "we can finish up the paper work then". Dan escorted Sue, Digger and Miss Tracey out the front door so Harry could start to settle in his new home with his new family.

Harry was in the lounge room with Mrs Mpheli and Mrs Granger. Putting his head round the doorway on his way to the kitchen Dan stopped to ask Harry if he like Chinese to which Harry replied "I have never had any but it always looks nice".

"In that case I will do a range of dishes so you can work out what you like", advised Dan before he headed off to the kitchen to get things started as the Grangers' daughter Hermione would be home from dancing lessons soon. Apparently Mrs Mpheli's husband was picking her up from class.

Sitting in the lounge room Mrs Mpheli had a file that was able to provide other details in a small family tree for young Harry. Her record details matched the birth certificate details and the two ladies and Harry were going through the box contents when she came across his old school reports. Mrs Mpheli talked to Harry about his reports and told him in the future he must try as hard as he could, as she knew he was a very bright little boy.

"I wasn't allowed to be better than Dudley," advised Harry.

"I know child but you no longer have to follow those bad rules. You are free and part of that freedom is to be you the real you" Asmara advised him. "Your parents were special people and it would be a lovely way to remember them if you try as hard as you can at what ever you do".

It was then that Mrs Granger found the letter from Dumbledore before slipping it to the side. No that letter would go in the evidence file damning the horrible man. There were a couple of letters from Lily his mother that Emma Granger put into date order. Opening one of the letters near Harry's official birth date Mrs Granger found a photo of his parents and him. She gave the picture to Harry and asked him he would like her to read to him from the letter where his mother was talking about how he became to be named Harry.

_Since James was so hyped up with excitement for the baby being here he was a little out of it when it came to the paperwork for Harry. We had agreed that he would only be called Harry as the shortening of his real name Harrison but somehow James lumbered Harry with Harry on his official birth certificate. When I get a chance I will see about getting that fixed. He is a very good baby and sleeps through the night he is so delightful. Holding him in my arms when he snuggles into my neck just makes my heart swell with delight._

Harry was crying about what had been said about him. His mother had loved him. Asmara and Emma were both teary eyed themselves and the two women hugged the small boy allowing him to expel some of his bottled up emotions. It was not long afterwards that the front door bell rang and Dan called for Emma to open it as he was serving up. Leaving Asmara and Harry, Emma left the room to open the front door where Harry could hear a small screechy voice with excitement that then squealed with delight in reply to something Emma had said. Suddenly a small girl rocketed into the room and wrapped Harry up in a tight hug.

Emma was following the bushy haired explosion into the room and laughed. "He has to breathe love. Hermione you need to let go"

"I am just so glad that he is here" the girl advised the room.

"Harry this is Emma and Dan's daughter Hermione" advised Mrs Mpheli "and the long tall dark skinned man over near Emma is my husband Fezile. You can call him Fez and since we are here you can call me Asmara."

"Dinner " was the call from Dan and the four adults and two children convened round a round dining table. Asmara was on Harry's left and Hermione was on his right.

With some coaching from Hermione, Harry got the hang of using chopsticks and just enjoyed being able to sit at a dinner table with a family feeling like he was part of it. At Privet Drive he was never allowed to eat at the table. He was free he was free! No more Dursleys. Most of the dishes were vegetable based and there was one fish dish that was totally different to what he had seen when the Dursleys had Chinese. These looked better and were probably healthier for you. Harry was amazed that Dan had cooked all this while he had been sitting with Emma and Asmara.

After dinner Harry helped Hermione to stack the dishwasher before he was shown the rest of the house while Dan put on the kettle. When asked about if he had enjoyed the meal Harry was highly expressive about how much he liked it and how he couldn't believe Dan cooked it so quickly.

"Do you like cooking?" enquired Dan.

"Yes but the Dursleys seemed to only like fry ups and other fattening dishes", explained Harry.

"Well in that case you can be my demi," advised Dan. "We always have Hermione pottering in the kitchen helping out no matter who is the chief cook so she can learn how to cook and be familiar with ingredients", explained Dan thinking that this would be a good manner to get to know the boy better.

"I would like that," stated Harry. At this point Hermione was sent up for a bath and it was now the turn of Dan and Fez to talk to the small boy in the lounge room about his situation while Emma along with Asmara were making the tea and coffee in the kitchen.

After settling Harry onto the couch end the two men sat on either side of him. Dan in a wingback and Fez on the couch but not too close so he didn't feel smothered by their attention.

"Harry…. Fez, Asmara and I both have experience in security operations and we with some help have prepared some lists of names that you might like to consider. One problem you will have is that you have learnt the name Harry and you will need to take back up the name later in your life. So you need to have a name that won't confuse you but can be still be shortened to Harry.

We will be getting all your old reports copied with your new name to help provide a background story that supports your move here", explained Dan.

Dan went into how Emma was closely linked to the Nepalese community thanks to her father and it would seem logical with his dark hair that he could select a Nepali name which could give them the cover that he was a child they were fostering / adopting from that community. He would still be Harry but the official documents would have him listed with a Nepali forename. Next September Harry and Hermione would be starting at the new primary school near Aldershot. Dan explained that one of the key reasons for going to this new school was to help him to get access to the Ghurkha training and the additional protection being round this community.

Fez added that Asmara would be teaching at the new school in September as she had handed her resignation in today for Little Whinging Primary.

Asmara and Emma brought a couple of tea trays into the lounge room and set Harry up with a nice soothing cup of Horlicks while he was looking at the lists of names and their meanings along with the small family tree that Asmara had prepared for him. Sipping on the warm drink Harry thought that he would use the name Hardik meaning heartfelt for his first name. It was reflective of his mother's love for him.

Hermione after her bath came downstairs in her PJs and sat with Harry while he looked over the possible suggested name lists. She had brought two note pads and pens out to the coffee table. Looking at his birth certificate she was looking at a dictionary. "Harry did you know that Evans or Evan is a Celtic name meaning young warrior. Highly popular in Wales were it is a very common surname.

Asmara's file also says that your Dad was born in Wales so why not pick another name that you can use as second middle name which reflects Evans or Wales in some manner" she suggested.

It was food for thought as it indicated he could make a statement about who he wanted to be and who he was, allowing him to shake off the bad associations that he had with the Dursleys. They both wrote down several combinations of names that could be shortened to Harry from the list that went well with his soon to be new surname Granger. He kept coming back to Hardik that was his first pick of a new forename.

The adults had finished their coffee when the two children were ushered upstairs to their teeth and get into bed. Emma supervised the teeth and while she tucked Hermione in, Asmara helped Harry into his new pjs. She was reading him a story when Dan and Emma came into his new room to wish him good night.

"Is Wales were Snowdonia is? " asked the small boy.

"Yes Wales is where Snowdonia is. Why did you want to know Harry?" asked Dan.

"Can I have a second name that means mountain or is symbolic of mountains like stone or rock?"

"Yes but we will need to do some research to sort that out for you. But enough now it is time for sleep as you need sleep to rest, recuperate and prepare to power the next day."

"Night Asmara. Night Emma and Dan."

oOoOo

After putting the children to bed, Dan called Digger and it was not long before there was a knock on the door and the extraction team was all present for a debriefing session led by Dan. Lefty reported on his success in passing the seeded gossip to the cat lady Mrs Figg. Digger and Sue completed the draft forms for the transfer of Harry James Potter to Harry Potter Evans that they had hashed out with the Dursleys. It would be interesting to note that on the Dursley's copy they had not put the current address of the false Evans so if anyone ever checked the paper work they would be up the creek with out a paddle for a lead in the right direction. The second set of guardianship paperwork was started for Harry Potter Evans so all that was needed was the name that Harry was going to select to be filled in.

Once that name had been selected the guardianship paperwork would be lodged in the appropriate places by the Goblins. The bankers would also produce suitably amended school reports to match Harry's Nepali name so he could be enrolled at Hermione's school for the rest of the year.

Even Lefty agreed that Asmara was one heck of a debriefing intelligence officer as he felt that she had put them all through the wringer. Fez just laughed. "See I can't get away with anything she always knows when I am hiding something".

Once the debriefing session had been completed and Asmara had once more checked to make sure Harry was asleep the visitors said their good byes heading off to their own homes. Asmara had to teach in the morning so she would have the hard job of not letting on that she knew that Harry had moved on from the school.

oOoOo

It was early when Harry opened his eyes. Looking out the window it was still dark but he thought it was a round six. After toddling out to the bathroom for a morning constitutional Harry came back into his new room to spend some time investigating it in more detail. It was here was Dan found the shocked boy who had been crying with happiness over all his new things.

"Harry yes all these are for you. We want you and we want to look after you. You are a special little boy and we hope you want to stay with us", explained Dan who promptly received a tight hug of thanks from the boy.

After a short while Harry was calm enough to notice that Dan had sports gear on and had put down a pair of trainers on the floor when he stopped to speak to him. "Do you train?" asked Harry.

"We will all be training Harry but first lets make this bed together before the Missus comes in. Do you want to talk about what the rules of dos and don'ts are? It is always better to know what you can and can't do", advised Dan to which Harry could only nod. It seemed the general house rule for everyone was that they were to keep their own rooms clean and straight, vacuuming once a week and all dirty clothes in the wash baskets. Beds made each morning and sheets washed on Saturday morning. Help when asked to help and it was the kids' job to stack and unstack the dishwasher. The children were also to demi the evening meal a couple of times a week so they had the appropriate life skills when they were older. Homework was to be started the night it was set and other than being honourable and hardworking everything else was to be played by ear.


	6. Harry's First Christmas

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.

**Chapter 6: Harry's First Christmas**

Asmara completed the rest of the week at Little Whinging Primary without the terrible terror better known as Dudley Dursley in her classroom. Mr Dursley had dropped by first thing on the Tuesday morning to advise that Harry Potter would no longer be attending Little Whinging Primary, as he was going to live with his wife's cousins in Australia. Since there were some massive changes in the family circumstances they were going to a special get together up North so Dudley would be away for the rest of the week missing school. As Vernon Dursley was an old school chum of the Headmaster it was marked as an approved absence for Dudley. If it had been some other family there would have been much tutting and if possible a parental prosecution. Oh how did the Headmaster like to stomp on those namby pamby parents who baby their children the little toe rags.

When the alarm went off in Headmaster Albus Dumbledore's office that Harry Potter had been out of his residence for more than 24 hours he floo called Arabella Figg who informed the grey haired whiskered gentlemen that the family had gone visiting their relatives up North. At this point he didn't really bother to listen properly and cut the call off, as he was sure that the boring squib would be prattling on about her cats rather than listening to the real details about what the Dursley family was up to. Checking his tracking charms it appeared that this was the case and the boy looked like he was heading towards Yorkshire.

Harry's first day of freedom ended up being an interesting one as he was introduced to his new world and community. When Harry was taken to the Little Nepal Community Health Clinic it was the Subedar-Major who introduced him to magic via Griphook and his healer assessment. The Subedar-Major was furious that the magical authorities had never had him assessed or treated him after the Halloween attack when he was a baby as there was a leeching curse in his scar. St Mungo's would have never missed that dark magic. There was also evidence of Harry's mistreatment by the Dursleys. The Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot would have to answer to this arrogance.

In the end Griphook brought field troop of healers from the bank to do the assessment of the child and record the details of their findings. Like the Subedar-Major the Chief Healer of the field medics wanted to go and find the Dursleys to do some payback for all the harm they had done to the child.

Supported by Emma Harry was informed that he needed treatment for the damage all the malnutrition and assaults had done to his body. They needed him to get stronger before they could properly deal with the leech. He would also need to get all his magical and Muggle inoculations. Harry was not alone in needing his magical vaccinations as Hermione had to have them too. Again they were not starting the inoculations until he was much healthier. The one thing that they did sort out that first day at the clinic was a proper optical prescription and set of new glasses for him.

Harry had his first dental check up at the clinic and Emma was surprised to find no problems. The Subedar-Major explained that it was likely Harry's magic had corrected any damage or issues like cavities when it corrected bone issues like his broken arm.

After all the assessments in the afternoon Harry had a mind healing session with the Subedar-Major were they discussed all the medical findings and what had happened to him. The Subedar-Major would be Harry's mind healer and he was to have a session with him once a week so they could help him come to grips with all the startling new news along with the horrors of his past.

"Every warrior needs to decompress after the battle. You have been in many battles since you were a small child but you have never had that chance. To keep you strong and healthy we will make sure you have an opportunity to decompress", advised Subedar-Major. The traditional healing practices of the hill tribes had always included an aspect that reflected the care of the soul or mind. It was in the mind healing session with the Subedar-Major when Harry found the name he was going to use to reflect both his parents. Sagamartha is the Sherpa name for Mount Everest. He would be strong and reach for his goals. He would glisten in the sun with his achievements and extract a terrible vengeance on his enemies.

After dinner Griphook and Rakshi stopped by the Granger residence to complete the paperwork for Harry. The Harry Potter Evans guardianship paperwork was completed to have the new name of Hardik Sagamartha Granger included in the details.

The evidence file was updated with copies of the letter Dumbledore had left for Harry been added to the growing file of evidence against the man. After Dan had done the bedtime story routine, which was basically listening to Hermione reading to Dan and now Harry. Hermione had selected a new book since Harry was now with them in honour of his new name. She had borrowed a copy of Annapurna by Maurice Herzog from the Subedar-Major's library as she felt that both her male listeners would enjoy it.

Harry was enrolled in St Anne's RC Primary in Crawley after a quick call to the local parish priest explaining the circumstances that the Grangers were fostering and hopefully adopting a little boy who came from a broken home. The pull on the heartstrings and the season of good will found the Year 2 class, grow to 31 students when they returned in the New Year.

Once Harry was kitted out with a pair of trainers and some leisurewear that could cope with the winter weather he started joining Dan's morning run round the neighbourhood. It was bonding time for the two of them. There was something about Dan that made Harry feel secure and cared for. With Emma she was demonstrative but Dan was the strong and almost silent type. Yet Harry found the quiet man could laugh and joke with the best of them. With Dan, Harry felt if he said something to you seriously he really meant it.

Once Little Whinging Primary had broken up for the Christmas break Asmara spent more time with Harry and Hermione. She took them out to the British Library in London along with Deevyah. To say that the young bookworm was in seventh heaven would have been the understatement of the year. Thanks to Deevyah and Asmara's presence they were able to access the magical collection and gain their readers cards. There was a lovely lady called Claire Smythe who was the reference advice librarian on duty for the day who showed them round the library systems and the different access points. Miss Smythe explained that they were allowed 10 books from the magical collection and 10 books from the general public collection.

Asmara asked Claire, "Is there any facilities for parents or spouse of first generation magicals who don't have magic to access the magical collection?"

"Why would a non magical want to do that?" she asked in reply looking at the adults very intently like she was weighing them up.

"Maybe they would want to learn more about this strange world that their child has access to", suggested Asmara.

"Miss Claire can you tell me about the budget for new purchases for this collection and do you provide any remote services?" asked Deevyah using the approach of honey instead of caster oil hoping to extend their knowledge. There was something about the way this Muggle born witch was answering their questions that didn't ring true. Being a mother and grandmother of many boys she had learnt the sound of a half-truth or hidden lie.

"Our budget comes from the Ministry of Magic but we haven't really been able to do any new purchases since the war. What purchases we have done has been by direct donation or a will legacy", advised the Librarian.

"Do you have a floo access?" inquired Deevyah. She was given all the details along with additional forms for other members of the family who were magical so they could enrol for their library cards.

In amongst the forms Miss Claire Smythe had slipped in a message slip that included a phone contact number and when to call her. Claire Smythe couldn't provide much more information at her workplace but she had some that she thought they would be interested in. She hoped that these women would be interested in her knowledge they seemed the right types and somehow the fight against the ministry's manipulation needed to continue.

Asmara and Emma helped Harry in doing his first ever present shopping for the family and the extended members of the diverse group who would be at the Grangers for Christmas Eve and Day. Harry particularly enjoyed the singing at Midnight Mass and the hot chocolate he had with everyone when they got home. Over the last week he had time with Dan and Emma separately where he had learnt that they were extremely caring. Hermione had become his best friend of a sister pretty rapidly and he kept pinching himself to make sure that this was not some strange dream. Christmas Eve dinner had been a lovely meal of things he was unfamiliar with but he had enjoyed participating in the preparation. There was fun, laughter and games amongst the work. Deevyah and Subedar-Major were present and the meal was highly spiced.

Christmas morning the bouncing of his hyperactive new sister awakened Harry. He was barely awake when she had dragged him downstairs depositing him in a chair in the lounge near the Christmas tree that they had decorated yesterday afternoon. Not long afterward he saw that Hermione was dragging Dan and Emma down to the lounge. Everyone was in his or her pjs. "Hermione pumpkin I know you are excited but I need coffee", pleaded Dan trying to derail the whirlwind that was his daughter hyped up on the excitement of Christmas.

The pocket rocket was off like a flash to set up the dripolator so her dad could have the require caffeine input. Emma helped out by making hot chocolate and some crumpets with honey so that the rest of them were fortified to endure the distribution and opening of Christmas presents.

"We are not going to get any sense out of her until the presents are handed out" advised Emma from her long experience of a hyped up daughter on Christmas.

The day was enjoyable day of firsts for Harry as he experienced friendship and family traditions from more than one community in their celebration of Christmas. He was encouraged to participate and there was much love and laughter amongst the blended family he now found himself in. Had it really been two weeks ago when he was in his cupboard when he was wishing for a family and someone who cared about him to celebrate Christmas with?

oOoOo

To say that Dumbledore was slow on the uptake would be the same as saying water is wet. The so called great man of wizard kind the noble leader of the light had been away for two days in Zurich for the ICW quarterly meeting. He had not at first noticed much going on at the Dursley residence but it was on Boxing day that the leader of the light one of the greatest wizards of all time decided to check his monitoring alarms on Harry Potter and his Muggle family when he noted that the wards at Privet Drive had collapsed.

Before Albus had left for Zurich he had been told that the family had gone north to visit some of their other family but now it appeared that something more serious was going on as the wards had come crashing down. Albus Dumbledore quickly flooed down from Scotland to Arabella Figg's home in Surrey running by the squib concerned before stepping out onto the street expecting to go into some sort of confrontation. However, Albus was surprised to observe that the Dursley household at 4 Privet Drive appeared to be empty like the family who lived there was away or out for the day. So, Harry had not been found in Surrey by Death Eaters, what was going on? The family must still be on their holiday visit with the extended family but why had the wards collapsed? Fortunately, Albus Dumbledore had been prepared to track his weapon after a couple of runaway or giveaway attempts when the child concerned had gone missing when he was younger. Petunia had tried to dump him straight away at an orphanage in November 1981. Yes those tracking charms were going to come in handy. Hmmm, it appeared that Harry Potter was in York.

I thought Vernon's sister was in Essex. Hmmm well off to York I go I can stay in the Micklegate once I calm Arabella down thought the great man who seemed to believe that he was infallible.

oOoOo

BBC News at 9pm Boxing Day

In York bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion of a suspicious package that was delivered today at the York Garrison Headquarters the Imphal Barracks. The mailroom staff identified possible trace explosive chemicals and that combined with other factors led to the utmost caution being utilized.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police has advised that there appeared to be no identifiable wiring however there were plastic components along with other chemical signatures that indicate that the package was a significant threat.

Superintendent Jaff said in his statement to the Press that "this incident has caused significant disruption this afternoon and evening due to the large number of individuals who had to be evacuated including those students on campus at York University. We have to put the safety of the public ahead of the inconvenience and disruption and we make no apology for the steps taken during this operation.

oOoOo

"Dan! Why are you rolling on the floor laughing", inquired his not amused at all wife wondering why a bomb scare would trigger this hilarity off.

"Lefty! Digger, Sue! Fezile I cannot believe that these reprobates have corrupted you so easily. Help me here Asmara", pleaded Emma Granger as she observed the additional mirth amongst the so called responsible group of adults.

"Very Funny Boys and Girls" drolly advised the Subedar-Major with a wry grin on his face. "I will have to tell Rakshi about this one. He will get a kick out of it."

"What did you do?" queried Emma now awfully suspicious.

"Um", said Sue before she paused trying to collect herself from the merriment. Thank goodness the kids were now in bed. "Um your lovely other half may have just caused a bomb scare at York Imphal Barracks".

"Daniel Granger! What am I supposed to do when you get locked up or shot as an IRA terrorist? We will be discussing this later" snapped a very very annoyed wife. A month or two on the sofa was looking to be a future outcome for the husband concerned.

Dan Granger waited his time, served her tea so her teapot was never cold while they talked and chatted with their friends. Puppy dog eyes were applied and eventually the elephant in the room was discussed. "You must admit it is very funny. Just a little bit of inter regimental humour and we have solved the Scottish problem by giving him a false track for our Hardik. Your father will get a kick out of this one just we cant say anything over the phone about it. We will have to tell him in person the next time he is in the country"

Maybe she was full to her eyeballs with tea or maybe she had started to see the funny side of this situation. Well it did solve the Scottish play master for a little while giving the family some breathing room. Emma Cawthorne Granger the strategist was going to milk the situation to ensure that she got an appropriate payment like a deep tissue massage but not right now she would be seasick from all the tea she had consumed tonight.

oOoOo

Albus Dumbledore was worried, as he could not find Harry Potter in York. His charm tracking him just disappeared at 8pm. No he would have to get some help finding the Dursleys so it was time to get onto his old friend Alastair 'Mad-Eye' Moody.

"What do you want old man it is the day after Boxing Day and I am about to go to lunch with some of my friends" demanded the almost retired Senior Auror.

"Alastair my old friend. I haven't seen you in a while so since it is the season for it I thought I would come and visit you" started Dumbledore.

"Cut the bull Albus why are you really here? Have you got yourself into trouble that as the great leader of the light you cant get yourself out of? I always told you that you should never give second chances to Death Eaters like Lucius Malfoy you old coot. Speak up cause I have places to be and people to see unlike you," chided the angry man who wanted a new challenge and was looking forward to leaving the Ministry as soon as he could.

No Alastair Moody did not have much respect for the so called leader of the light not since Minerva McGonagall told him that wizard had left James and Lily Potter's son with those horrible people. He had problems with Albus' leadership during the blood war but even more so after the war. The decision-making appeared to be very poor and if he heard 'for the greater good' one more time he would stuff his wooden peg leg down the man's craw stump end first to shut him up.

No two could play this game, he would listen to what the leader of the light wanted and then do his own background checking. Constant Vigilance and a range of sources would ensure he would not be sucked into the old coot's manipulations. No there was something off about the whole defeat of Lord Voldemort and until he saw a body he certainly wasn't going to believe that they had seen the end of that tricky bastard.

oOoOo

It was late January when Alastair Moody visited Albus Dumbledore at Hogwarts to report on his off the books missing person inquiry. Making sure Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin was with him the old Auror had a meeting with Albus Dumbledore. Harry Potter was no longer living with his Aunt in Surrey but had been passed through the family to some Australian cousin called Evans. He was supposedly somewhere in Australia on a cattle station getting some self discipline according to his ball of lard Uncle Vernon Dursley who had taken great delight saying they had finally gotten rid of the little freak.

It was during this meeting that the Order of Phoenix irrevocably broke with its former leader, Albus Dumbledore. The three key lieutenants of the Order of Phoenix advised the old man that he had lost it and it was now time for the Order to officially disband. The man tried to claim that there was still a need for the Order but Minerva had shot that argument out of the water with how society was rebuilding after the war.

Dumbledore attempted to command Remus to go to Australia to hunt down Harry Potter but as the man in question pointed out he didn't have the funds and neither did the Order of Phoenix. He had just landed a job at a Muggle school and he needed it cause he was on his bare bones just have a look at his robes. They were certainly the proof that the man was skint. No he was not getting any support from higher power or organisation as no one was funding the Order of Phoenix since it was not needed anymore. He had to work for a living he was not like Albus getting accommodation, food and a secure lockup as all part of his job perks plus an income.

No Remus Lupin had lost his best friends he had been betrayed and he still had to struggle with lycanthropy each month and the cost of Wolfsbane was quite prohibitive to a luxurious living if you could find a competent brewer who was willing to brew the notoriously difficult potion.

Remus had a bright light on his horizon at the Mahakali Community School in the form of a part time teaching position.

oOoOo

Remus was not the only one who was getting out of the magical world. The Ministry of Magic was undertaking some cut backs and Senior Auror Alastair Moody was being forced to retire. Amelia Bones had held on to her job as a shift supervisor only just according to Kingsley under Minister Cornelius Fudge. No now was the time for Moody to hang up his shackles. His old mate Rakshi at Gringotts was going to help him find a place in one of the pensions for old warriors. He was not really keen on the Chelsea joint but there may be a quiet old place for him at one of the other pension houses round the UK for old soldiers.

oOoOo

"Miss Claire Smythe, it is Deevyah Bahadur calling"

"Yes my husband and I will be coming into the Library next week I am sure we could arrange to meet you for coffee or tea somewhere close to your workplace"

And with that phone call another nail in the coffin was made for the status quo of the pureblood supremacists management of the UK wizarding society and the start of the golden age of magical enlightenment led by Hardik "Harry Potter" Granger and other revolutionary thinkers and activists like his sister Hermione Granger.


	7. The Mahakali Community and School

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.

**Chapter 7: The Mahakali Community and School**

The Ramillies Park Estate region of Aldershot had undergone a radical change since the start of the New Year. The new General Redvers Buller Housing Association had purchased both Ministry of Defence excess housing stock and some former local Aldershot Council housing properties. Under the new management of the private housing association the old housing stock had been renovated, refurbished and new ecological features like solar power added to the infrastructure. Tennant applications for the new housing association did not only come from within the Little Nepali community but included serving personnel in the non ghurkha regiments based at Aldershot, Department of Transport and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch staff based at Fanbourough along with wider members of the Aldershot community.

The third way alliance thanks to a rather large funding grant from the goblin nation investimate agency run by Rakshi had purchased a former care home on the Ramilllies Park Estate that was currently undergoing refurbishment and some extension work as it would be opening up as a private community school with its first intake of pupils in the coming September. There was a flow on effect at the local high street area for the suburban estate as a micro regeneration for the semi military estate occurred. The business district received additional funding support to incourage refurbishment, rejuvenated along with the injection of new business entities that had been attracted to the area thanks to economic activity occuring in the area. For starters the new housing association opened an office front near by so that there was easy contact with their customer base. In addition, the community found that they had access to a new building society that had been launched directly to appeal to the Nepali community. The Ministry of Defence particularly noticed the number of personnel who had changed their payroll details. It had certainly created a lot of additional work in the paymaster general's branch of the logistics base.

While this Aldershot community was regenerating young Hardik was also going through a period of growth and change. He had settled well into the Granger Household and the diverse family routine. The change in the young boy was extreme but there were still times when his past would come back and haunt him. He still had nightmares of the night with woman, his mother, begging for his life and seeing the green light. It was at the spring equinox when the Subedar-Major and the Goblin healers felt that Hardik was strong enough to get rid of the leech and address some of his long-term magical health issues.

During the Easter break Hardik was introduced to some new members of the mixed community of Ramillies Park. The Farnborough branch of the St John de Commander had moved their local operations into a newly adapted Victorian Villa on the Ramillies Park Estate High Street and one of its new in-pensione was a one legged gentleman known as Alastair Moody by Rakshi. The hair, eyes and scar put the old auror on alert and harsh words were had after the children's visit with the old timers. He hadn't been James Potter's Auror Academy Instructor for nothing to remember that scruff of hair. Added to that personal history the Senior Auror had also know the boy's grandparents personally so there was no way in hell could Hardik Granger not be the young wizard Harry Potter.

He had instant recognised the child and thanks to Radshi had not made a complete prat of himself. The old Auror had been brought into the Mahakali Community and was now part of the eyes keeping watch over the young child when he visited the area.

Asmara and Fezile had moved into a new housing association house on the estate and had another teacher for Harry and Hermione's new school was also lodging with them in their lovely three-bedroom house. This teacher apparently had some sort of medical condition that meant that he was only able to work part time but Emma was sure that as soon as the Subedar-Major got his hands on the man his health would improve considerably. The Subedar-Major and Rakshi had been the one to break it to Remus Lupin about the removal of Harry from his muggle family for his safety. Asmara had demonstrated in that meeting her mettle and Fezile was quite aware that his wife had a backbone of steel to protect those she loved.

oOoOo

Alistair Moody had been recruited to the new order of anti dark and now Anti Dumbledore faction which supported Harry Potter by his old friend the goblin general Rakshi. The current Ministry of Magic was going to the dogs. More than it had been during the last war. There was something wrong with the government thought Alistar when dark wizards like Lucius Malfoy could get off scotfree. No it was time for him to retire and he had wanted to do so for quite a while. He had pretended that he didn't want out so he got a good fiscal package from the Ministry.

His residence at the local St John de Commander home for old soldiers had been a boon for the old wizard. He got three meals a day with little or no bother. His unit was cleaned for him each week and he had the commradeship of the other pensiones who came from all the muggle services. Alistair was enjoying the benefits of retirement into a semi military retirement home thanks to Rakshi string pulling. The old warhorse actually felt more accepted in this community than he had for many years after the war in the UK magical community. He felt like a frustrated seer. He had heralded the danger informing the ministry of the security threats to the safety of magical Britain but again and again he had been mocked for his watch cry of Constant Viligence.

No since he was not wanted and not needed according to the Minisitry of Magic he would find himself a nice little bolthole. Check. Ingratiate and intergrate himself in the local community. Check. Keep a watching brief on the dangerous ones and keep his network of snitches going. Check. To do the last he would need a new pay master. Check this is where the goblin nation and the semi retired general Rakshi came to his intelligence network rescue. The goblins would pay for his network as they also believed that the Dark Lord Voldemort had not died that October night in 1981. No while the Death Eaters appeared to be back hidden in their hidyholes not cause death and mayheam he would wait and watch. Those bastards would come out of their lairs one day again to cause destruction of the magical world.

Rakshi had recommended the hill tibes men healer at the local community health centre to the retire Auror and many of his injuries were being reassessed by the man. The Subedar-Major was going through his many dark magic injuries like a dose of salts. Alaistair Moody felt years younger from the health treatments. He also got know the new foster mother for Hardik Harry Potter Granger thanks to his frequent customer status at the Little Nepal Health Clinic when she visited for her regularly dental consultations and Saturday practice. The former Auror had also faced the female fang merchant because the Subedar-Major had bullied him to do so and now he could eat a steak without wondering if he was going to break any more teeth and if he was going to get somesort of face ache.

Watching Emma Cawthorne Granger he could see she had a strong morale streak along with the stubborness that some describe as determiniation. She would stick to it what ever she gave her pledge to even if it killed her. She was also a wicked dentist and if he could ever get her to practice on a Death Eater without Novacain he would be in heaven as he believed they would not have to administer Versiarsutum. It was a pleasant daydream for the old man to think of Lucius Malfoy in her chair and using her tools to extract his teeth sans anthestia.

oOoOo

Miss Claire Smythe the muggle born witch librarian from the British Library Magical Section turned out to have a considerable amount of information about several first-generation groups that tried to get information about various practices that occurred within the UK magical society so that those who wanted the information could access it and resources in the other community.

The goblin architects and builders had accepted a large design brief for the Mahakali School after undertaking some benchmarking of facilities around the world to produce an ecologically sound development that had both primary and secondary non magical education facilities above ground while underground there was the magical educational facilities. In addition to the magical educational facilities the underground developed below the school would include a goblin cavern living space facilities for the protectorate details who would be using the school for their training with other units such as the Ghurkha regiment next door at the Normandy Barracks and the secure data centre.

The registrations of the magical homes had been handled at the Ministry of Magic with the explanation that the majority of the Nepalise magical community were moving closer to the Normandy Barracks as many had sons or grandsons serving there. Since it was from that foreign bunch of magicals who seemed to enslave themselves into the British Army there was not notice taken at the Ministry except for the pureblood administrative officer to sneer at the bright coloured clothing, women who wore blankets and the strange hats even for wizards on the men.

Amelia Bones was the shift supervisor sent to investigate the higher concentration of magic in the Muggle Aldershot region of Ramilllies Park Estate. Before going to the area she checked the details of who was known to live in the area. No vampire coven and other than werewolves based on the military base there was noone to be on the look out for in the area. According to the records there appeared a great amount of magical usuage found in the region of one High Street shop building. After meeting the Subedar-Major again Amelia found that he had all the paperwork to open a second clinic in Ramillies Park High Street to meet the needs of the large Nepali community that had started to establish itself there. When told that the Subedar-Major's wife was ensuring that community didn't get into trouble with the Ministry by supervising and coordinating all the paperwork, she sighed a breath of relief thinking she fortunate to duck the next couple of months being covered in an avalanche of paperwork. There was just something fishy going on especially when Madam Bones stopped at the local shops to get her lunch and saw Remus Lupin walk by.

"Remus Lupin"

"Hello Namaste Madam Bones"

"Will you join me for some tea I am having my lunch".

"Why not? I was about to do some shopping for my dinner at the cooperative."

"Do you live round here? Remus, you know you have to notify the ministry of your address."

"Amelia I did that weeks ago. I have the paperwork right here", advised the werewolf pulling out his forms that he was required to have on him at all times from his wallet. Sure enough there it was Remus Lupin had notified the Department of Dark Creatures of his new lodging address back in March. Yet he was not on the DLME map of dark creatures in the area as she had checked all the estate's details. Obviously the interdepartmental notification system was blocked up again. She would unclog that sink later when she got back to the Ministry of Magic.

Talking to Remus she was glad to see that he seemed to be happy, as he had been a good friend of one of her favourite young Aurors James Potter. Remus was talking about his new position at the new private school that was opening up. Walking round the cooperative store with Remus as he picked up his odds and ends Amelia Bones noticed that there was much for sale that was covered under the Ministry of Magic legislation.

How did they get away with this? As Amelia started bluster and Remus could see that she was about to produce her official identification wallet he whispered "Its Ok. It is all licensed. Look at the wall near the cash registers. The strange items are shrugged off by the Muggles as Nepali cultural things"

After he payed for his shopping basked she walked with Remus back to his digs where she met his landlord Fezile. When she had gotten home that evening she had several stiff drinks of fire whiskey when she reviewed her memories of the meeting with Remus Lupin's new landlord.

"Madam Bones I need a witches oath from you that you mean the residents of this house no harm" asked the tall dark man who had scars to prove he was not a stranger to danger. She had placed him for a Muggle and with the request she had gripped her wand in a defensive pose.

"Pax, my wife is what the Ministry of Magic describes as a squib and I am fully aware that I have a wizard who is a werewolf for a tenant. We both have our WOMBATs so there is no breach of the Statue here". The silent stand off between them lasted over five minutes as each other's eyes trying to read the other was disturbed by the arrival of the dark man's wife in a white tunic with gauze like headdress.

"Namaste Remus! Molo Fez, Unjan? (Hello Fez, How are you?)"

Seeing the wand and the tension in the room Asmara stepped up "Hello I am Asmara. Fezile? Biza Nceda? (Call for help?)"

"No Asmara we don't need to call for help from another wand holder do we? Madam Bones here is part of the Magical Amapolisa (police) isn't she Remus".

"Yes that right Fez she was here to check my residence. We don't have facilities here for Remus to overnight during the full moon so he has been going to the facilities at the near by Normandy Barracks. There apparently ars a number of werewolves in the regiment so the Barracks have appropriate cells for them. They also have access to the traditional medicine that makes the transformation much better than the Wolfsbane that is commonly used by the European community."

It was over coffee made by Asmara in the traditional manner did the tempers that had been present in the room were allowed to cool. Amelia had to admit that it was some of the best coffee she had ever drunk in her life and it had been interesting to watch Asmara make it using the traditional utiensiles. In the social chitchat Amelia learnt that squib woman also worked at the same new school as Remus.

Currently they were doing all the preparation for setting up the school and this included organizing all the lesson plan preparation and the fit out of the new classroom facilities.

It was reported to the Madam Bones that school would also be teaching wizarding children from the community to control their magic. The school had an educational license from the Ministry and the magical classrooms had all been reviewed and inspected by Madam Marchbanks Governor of the Wizarding Examinations Authority

Amelia Bones reported that the increased magical activity was a reflection of the transfer by the Nepali minority magical community moving into a new housing estate at Ramillies Park. There was no wrong doing, as the ethnic minority had done all the correct paper work but it appeared that there was a backlog in the Ministry of Magic interdepartmental notifications.

The stern lady in question from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement went personally down to the Department of Dark Creatures and bollocked Madam Delores Umbridge out for the lack of interdepartmental communication. The last thing the DMLE needed was to go unaware into an area where a dark creature was living. Knowledge was power and would help tip the situation in favour towards the underfunded DMLE officer who was attending the call out. It was quite satisfying to get one over that little toady in dark creatures Amelia thought as she left the office to go home to her niece Susan.

It was a couple of months later in about July that Remus Lupin sent Amelia Bones a prospectus for the Mahakali Community Private School. It was a nice glossy brochure that she looked over with interest. The school options along with the afterschool programs were interesting. This might help young Susan to get a handle on crossing between the magical and non magical world. The afterschool programs would also help in with her hours and Susan's loneliness.

oOoOo

Fezile work wise had been very busy for the Picaroon Enterprise Group. This company had some connection with goblins and Hardik's family. Much of the funds that had started of the school and community development programs had come from this private company and now they were paying him an excessively high wage to move a vax based database system over to Unix Oracle system. The Goblin caverns below the new school included a data centre that was now providing offsite services to the Surrey Community Healthcare Alliance, The Little Nepali Community Healthcare Alliance, the Farnbourgh St John the Commander Retirement Home, General Redvers Buller Housing Association, the Subhakamana Building Society and some other organisations.

The switch from Barclays to the Subhakamana Building society had provided a bit of a gasp of surprise with the Granger's Barclays account manager but knowing Emma Cawthorne he could see why these two dentists would put their money where they mouth was to support this enterprise for the Nepali community considering Emma's links. He felt it was foolish move but when he got to have a chat with Dan on the links one Wednesday he found that the rate of return for their savings was considerably better than could be found on the High Street even with his organisational discounts with his bank. It wasn't long before this banker and others in the surrounding counties started a private savings account with this new building society.

oOoOo

Miss Claire Smythe was invited out to the Mahakali Community Centre to meet with the Patuka Association. This organization was equivalent to the Women's Union, the Women's Institute and the Blue stocking movement combined together and then on methamphetamines. The ladies charged forward like the Blitzkrieg working hard to provide resources and opportunities for their community with a strong belief in supporting everyone's but especially women's endeavours.

Miss Smythe was invited out to help with the organization of a book club for the reading guild that this organization had little knowing that she was going to be come a leading activist in the literary freedoms development community. With her links to the British Library she was able to discuss the development of a book club and helping with the new school and community centre library. The British Library was currently looking into technology for the new Bloomsbury building. The Patuka Association Magical Grandmothers started to pull the Muggle born witch into their sticky web. Soon the British Library Magical section would have at least one of these Grandmothers visiting as it became commonplace for the patuka to be seen in the library.

It was with the assistance of Miss Smythe that the Patuka's grandmothers found or ferretted out a Muggle born technomagical specialist who was acquired by the Picaroon Enterprise Group to work in their technological division joining Fezile Mpheli.

oOoOo

Amelia Bones knew something was up when Andromeda Tonks started to spend hours in the Ministry Library. Sitting in the cafeteria Amelia noticed that Andy Tonks was doing some serious research into events over the last days of the blood war.

"Good Morning Madam Tonks. Can I join you on your table?"

"Good Morning Madam Bones. Of course nobody is sitting there."

"What brings you here to the Ministry so frequently? Are you working on a big case for one of the firms?"

Madam Bones was wondering who was paying for this woman to be a researcher. What a waste of talent! She should be at the bench but oh how those pureblood traditionalist males like to punish females who challenged them. No Andy Tonks had run away from a marriage contract. Strike 1. A bloody good lawyer who happened to be female. Strike 2. A member of the dreaded or Black family, which still tarnished her reputation even though she had been disowned. Strike 3. Andy's muggleborn husband worked a lawyer in the non-magical world even though he was just as qualified as a magical lawyer.

"Now that Nymphadora is in Hogwarts I can get back to trying to get my cousin Sirius an appeal full time. I have been trying for years to get an appeal for him. The ministry was in such a state at the time I cannot even find his trial transcript in the Library. I have been coming in for months and there appears to be nothing. We, Ted and I never believed that Sirius had attacked the James and Lily. For Gods sake he was and still is Harry's godfather."

After their pleasant luncheon the two ladies went their separate ways but a seed of idea was working in both ladies. Andy was hoping that Amelia might find some details in the DMLE records and Amelia was starting to have the horrifying thought that Sirius Black never got a trial.

oOoOo

Amelia Bones organised a visit to the new school where Remus Lupin was working with a view to possibly enrolling young Susan next September. While they were out near the sports grounds was when she asked the werewolf about his friend Sirius Black. She gripped her wand at his reaction to the name he literally growled she thought he would turn on her right there even though the full moon was weeks away. When she asked more details about what Remus knew it had turned out the werewolf himself was not in the country when the attack happened as a result all his knowledge was secondhand and came from Albus Dumbledore.

"Remus there could be a chance that Sirius never got a trial. Andy and Ted Tonks believe he innocent. Andy can't find any evidence of a trial. I am trying to be discreet but I can't seem to find anything in our files."

"Do you think we could be wrong about Sirius?" asked Remus with a look that showed how much pain he had been in over the years with thought that one of his best friends had betrayed his other best friends leaving him alone in this world a pack of 2. The pack which had been separated for years and only back together in last couple of months even though it was on a highly limited basis. At least some contact with Harry his cub but he had only gained that in the last couple of months.

"Andy said that he is and was Harry's godfather. If they had done the pureblood promise ritual there is no way he could have harmed Harry", suggested Amelia.

"Come with me Amelia and kept your wand put away. You will also need to control your magic or Fez will have your guts for garters if you fry one of his precious babies. We need to contact Andy Tonks and some others to get some facts and we can do that quietly undisturbed in Fezile's office area.

Entering the main school building Madam Bones was taken through various areas where Remus had to swipe card them through the doors, which Amelia thought was a good system as according to Remus the children would also be given swipe cards and they would have to swipe into school and again in and out of lessons. The swipe cards were part of a security tracking system so they could do the attendance easily and also have the most up to date student details available for the security teams.

When they reached a particular set of doors Amelia watch Remus press a buzzer and she heard the voice of his landlord through the speaker.

"Hi Fez, Can we come in and use your phone we have some queries that our friend Rakshi could help us with?"

"Come in but remember to calm your thoughts and no fast movements round here near my machines" advised the deep lilting voice. Sometimes when Fezile spoke Remus was almost sure that heard a sub vocalisation of a click sound from the man.

After they were buzzed into the Computing office, Remus pointed to a chair "Remember no magic now or he will fry the pair of us". After attempting to glare a werewolf down Amelia looked round the large room she was now in. There was an internal window and through it she should see many box like machines with lots of lights.

"General Rakshi please" asked Remus and Amelia immediately knew he had the Goblin nation on the telephone. So there was a telephone service to Gringotts.

"What does the Goblin Nation have on Sirius Orion Black?" inquired the werewolf.

"Currently in the data centre office with Amelia Bones from the DLE" advised Remus so he had obviously been asked where he was and whom he was with.

"Right oh, do you want me to pick up a coffee ok we will meet you there and I will preorder your coffee for you" advised Remus. "Do you think you could bring Andy Tonks along as she is apparently another interested party? Right see you there I will drag Fez out of his dungeon." After signing off with a "Bye" Remus turned round to look for the man whose domain they had invaded.

As he could not see the man in the room or a small office near by Remus walked over to the machine room window to view if he could see the computer scientist in the room. Spotting the man in question Remus promptly walked over to the server room doors and pressed a buzzer before calling "Fezile. We are going for coffee and your lovely wife demands that you meet her there."

No long afterwards Amelia observed the tall dark skinned man with short tightly curled wiry hair came through the server room doors with a winter coat on which he hung up on a near by hook. Amelia had been shocked by the cold blast of air that swept round the room when the doorway had opened.

Seeing her surprise the African advised her "We need to keep the servers cool as they can overheat" before turning to overhear Remus on his phone using a similar line to his wife suggesting that Fez was demanding her presence.

"Oi… False pretences. I thought Asmara had organised the coffee meeting", he advised the werewolf with a hint of steel under the lighthearted tone. Fezile may not have magic or superhuman strength but he had taken down a lion with a spear when he transitioned from boy to man.

Grabbing a light coat jacket Fezile was waiting at the door after pressing a few buttons on his desk phone to transfer the calls to the switchboard and administration office.

As they left the downstairs area Fez swiped his pass card on the inner door reader. "Why did you do swipe before you left?" asked a curious Amelia when they had gotten into the lift to take them back up to the ground floor.

"I was confirming I had left the area and basically putting it the data centre area in lock down. Without appropriate cleared personnel in the data centre no one will be able to use the lift to come downstairs. If push comes to shove I can lock myself in the office and shut the lift access off", explained the man.

At the front reception Remus guided Amelia through the retuning of her visitor pass while Fez reported to the administration office advising that he had switched his phone through and would be out of the office on business. She was reintroduced to Amara Mpheli when she arrived with her handbag meeting them in the front reception area only a couple of minutes after their arrival there.

Again Amelia notice that the other three all swiped themselves on their way out of the building before guiding her over to nearby café to the front street entrance for the school. The café was African variety of some sorts thought Amelia and the other three members present of the party were all greeted as though they were old friends and very frequent customers.

oOoOo

Come September 1st Susan Bones along with many others started at the Mahakali School and by extension joined the extended community associated with school. Susan found the Muggle education a wonderful adventure and she made many new friends. She was particularly enthusiastic about the afterschool programs, which included magical education and theory. According to the Subedar-Major if she participated in exercise she could help develop her mind and her magical core. Susan had noted that there were many Nepalese Magicals in the school but there appeared to be a growing group of first generation magicals who joined the school in a steady pace over the year.

Thinking about the whole setup it seemed logical for first generation magicals to help in controlling their magic. It would make the handling of accidental magic outburst better and if the families understood what was happening the families could be supported. Susan's Aunty Amelia certainly supported this approach. It was handy that Susan was quickly involved in the afterschool activities and programs of the school for Amelia, as it seemed that this autumn she was snowed under by a shed load of work. It was not just raining, it was haling hard with sleet and ice loads of work.


	8. House Black

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.

**Chapter 8: House Black**

_The Daily Prophet Editorial_

Today the Ministry of Magic held a trial for Sirius Black finding the Ancient and Noble Lord not guilty in the deaths and attack on Lily Evans Potter and James Charlus Potter. He was also cleared by the use of Veritaserum on himself and a surprising witness provided by the Goblin Nation. Lord Black was cleared of all wrong doing associated with the mass murder of 12 Muggles and the breach of the Statue of Security when it was found that Peter Pettigrew is still alive and had set up Sirius Black to be his fall guy.

Congratulations for the Ministry for identifying and ensuring that this travesty of justice did not continue. It is hard for any organisation to admit that there have been failures publicly but thanks to the leadership of the current minister and other strong loyal hearted individuals in a number of departments justice has been done.

It was after the trial where Lord Black was cleared through the exemplary efforts of his cousin, Andromeda Black Tonks and her husband, Ted Tonks that the terrorist and traitor Pettigrew was trailed and then convicted as a Death Eater.

Interestingly there has been some considerable number of arrests as a result of these trials as it came out in the official questioning that there are no such thing as the Imperius defence for marked death eaters. To take the mark of Lord Voldemort it is necessary for the inductee to complete a horrible act that includes the taking of an innocent life and the individual's own free will. Those who have previously been let off in earlier trials claim the Imperius curse defence have now all been taken into custody.

The Minister of Magic the Honourable Cornelius Fudge has declared that the Department of Mysteries in conjunction with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement would be reviewing all Ministry personnel to ensure that they were honourable and not tainted by You know who. This shake up is likely to revolutionise the Ministry sweeping in a new age of truth and justice. As part of the shocking revelations in the Wizengamot citizens can demand to see your forearms and those who refuse can be arrested using the citizen arrest process to ensure that they are fully investigated by the DMLE for their trustworthiness and loyalty to the UK Magical state. This new law means that you the citizen can address and help the state in removing root and branch the tainted magic from our community.

Lord Black has advised that he is reclaiming his family inheritance and responsibilities including the guardianship of the boy who lived Harry James Potter. The Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot took up the guardianship of this child in the aftermath of the last war when the former head of the DMLE Barty Couch and the former Minster Millicent Bagshot incarcerated Lord Black. The boy is believed to be with his Muggle relatives and currently in Australia. Lord Black will be travelling out to Australia to find his heir. It should be noted that the location of the child was not disclosed to the courtroom as the Chief Warlock declared that this information was critical for the safety of the child as the clean up of our society has not resulted all the followers of you know who to be brought to justice and pay for their crimes against the public.

In the afternoon session of the Wizengamot after the tumultuous morning session Lord Black announced and started his reign over the House Black. One of his first acts was to force Lord Malfoy to submit to the presentation of his forearms as an Impervius defence Death Eater. Then using family magic he called on Lord Malfoy's wife and son to attend the courtroom. Using Veritaserum further details of Lucius Malfoy's criminal behaviour were exposed in the open courtroom before he was taken into custody. Lord Malfoy's trial date will be set at a later time as the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is currently calling for further evidence and any others who wish to lay charges against him. Ms Narcissa Black formerly Lady Malfoy was granted a divorce based on Lord Malfoy's breech of contract as he had taken the mark of criminal and attacked members of the family breaking of the House loyalty requirements in the marriage contract. Young Draco Malfoy is now to be known as Draco Black after he was adopted into the Black family as part of his mother's divorce settlement wishes. Draco Black had renounced his father's name at the request of his mother and Lord Black adopted him into the House Black.

Bellatrix Black Lestrange was cast out of the Black family after she was also found to be marked as a death eater. Again her marriage was dissolved under family contract law with the reclaiming of her dowry if she ever gets out of Azkaban she will have to work, as it is believed that the Lestrange vault was already on rocky terms due to infractions against the Goblin nation. Madam Lestrange was brought to the courtroom where Lord Black demanded she was questioned under Veritaserum in relation to the spells that she used on the Aurors Longbottom. The emaciated but devastatingly powerful Lord Black compelled the witch to obey using family loyalty compulsions and it was an interesting display of semi dark family magic in the courtroom. Once the questioning was complete Lord Black then bound Miss Bellatrix Black's magical core with the explanation that he was declaring her to be criminally insane and he was not going to let a member or former member of his family be a risk to the Auror Corps stationed at Azkaban Prison. Lord Black, who is a former Auror and hitwizard, went on to explain that he needed to wield the family magic to help make reparations to the House Longbottom and to any others that the Black family grimoire magic may have been used against them by the former Madam Black Lestrange. Miss Bellatrix Black was then cast from the family before she was returned to her cell at Azkaban.

It was after this excitement in the court room did the Ancient and Noble House Black present a scroll writ of debt to the Longbottom Regent, Madam Augusta Longbottom, identifying their responsibility for the treatment and care of the Lord and Lady Longbottom who were harmed by a member of the family. It should be remembered young Neville Longbottom also lost his parents to St Mungo's on that same Halloween night as Harry Potter defeated You-Know-Who.

At the end of the Wizengamot's afternoon Madam Tonks read a statement out to the press on the behalf of the House Black and her newly ascended Lord. Madam Tonks and her family had been reinstated to the House Black as one of the last items of business in the dramatic afternoon session. According to the press statement it appears that Lord Black will be travelling to Australia to find his heir and recuperate from his incarceration. Until further notice Madam Tonks has been appointed his proxy representative in the Wizengamot holding both the Black and Potter proxies. Additionally, all business for the House Black should be presented to the Gringotts business manager the goblin, Account Manager Griphook.

When Madam Tonks is not in the Wizengamot dealing with her responsibilities as proxy for two great houses she is a partner in _Tonks and Tonks_. This law firm works in both the magical and muggle and is a joint partnership between Madam Tonks and her husband, Mr Ted Tonks. Their daughter Nymphadora Tonks is a second year at Hogwarts in Hufflepuff.

oOoOo

After the aftershocks of the House Black and its Lord's innocence, Amelia Bones felt that she was run off her feet. She could not convince Alastair Moody to come back to help with some of the backlog of work the Black case had created for the department. However, the old Senior Auror provided good advice and seemed to still have an ear to the ground with his grasses.

The retired Auror appeared to have some supergrasses on tap and he never failed to provide a wealth of information that had Amelia sure he was mainlining the beat of every criminal activity within the magical community. She was not going to ask how but she just found the man to be insufferably right all the time. Kingsley Shacklebolt had laughed loudly at her dismay after one meeting with the hyper cautious paranoid former Auror when she explained all the hoops she had jumped through to prove she was clean of any surveillance herself.

oOoOo

The poor Chief Warlock found that he was no longer as trusted as he was at the end of the war thanks to his failure to ensure that Sirius Black received a trial. The handling of the placement of Harry Potter with Petunia Evans had come back to bite him on the arse when it became public knowledge that she hated all magical persons. The further details that he had stopped a number of investigations into the welfare of the young boy also eroded the political confidence and high esteem that members of the Wizengamot had previously held him in.

Arabella Figg had in an interview with Rita Skeeter that had described the hero's life of drudgery and abuse further eroding the public's view of the leader of the light. The former lieutenants of the Order of Phoenix had briefed Sirius Black about their concerns and announced that they needed him to play the biggest prank on the wizarding world suggesting that he did not know where his godson was to help protect him. As part of the great prank for the sheep better known as the wizarding public Sirius had to lose his temper with his former Headmaster when he learned that wizard had managed to loose his godson.

At first Sirius was dubious but still slightly willing to see the good in Albus Dumbledore and his case blaming the whole situation on the chaos of the last days of the war but with more time away from the dementors Sirius was able to acknowledge that Dumbledore had left him high and dry. The more he heard the more he became aware that there were some serious issues with the man's leadership and the loss of the child broke all loyalty he may have had for his former Headmaster. No the House Black was not going to be sheep they were going to reform and revitalise the community starting first with the political structure of the country addressing the crimes of the past. The details of Harry's life with his Aunt just made the man even more determined to maintain the prank and exact justice for his best friend.

The shift by the House Black resulted in the appearance of a new power block within the Wizengamot, which was neither light nor dark, but rather they were grey. The two leaders of this new power block were two witches who appeared to have come to some alliance over the addressing of the care for the Lord and Lady Longbottom.

Less than a week after the earth shattering sessions in the Wizengamot, Poppy Pomfrey shared the gossip with Albus Dumbledore that the Goblin Nation had removed the Lord and Lady Longbottom from St Mungo's with the approval of the Regent Longbottom as part of the House Black paying its debts to the House Longbottom. Albus Dumbledore had been surprised to find that Sirius Black was not a patient in St Mungo's when he had attempted to apologise *manipulate* the man after the Black House Business session and as a result had asked the healer to use her network of friends to keep him up to date.

Additional information about the removal of the Lord and Lady Longbottom from St Mungo's brought out details about the healers who helped in the transfer had used a combination of magical and Muggle medical techniques. Apparently these healers were all from a company called the Picaroon Enterprise Group. Albus Dumbledore could not find much on this organisation but all his sources indicated that they were a legitimate business enterprise that had been in operation since before the end of the blood war. The entrepreneurs appeared to be involved in a range of business settings and were slowly but steadily taking control of certain business sectors. Not much were known about the upper management but it appeared that the use a high percentage of Muggle born witches and wizards in their enterprises. So Dumbledore was not overly concerned about the organisation, as it seemed to help the lowly muggleborns out.

Remus Lupin enjoyed working for the Picaroon Enterprise Group and when he met as an advisor to the New Lord Black the first weekend he had returned to society he advised his friend of the need to prank the world about Harry's location and it was time to fight the political and financial war against the pureblood traditionalists. The Picaroons had to get the lead on Lord Voldemort and the best way was to cut off his money and other resources. The Ministry of Magic would not be enough they would need their own army or security force so it was time to bring in the specialists like the Ghurkha's who new both the magical and non magical world.

oOoOo

Looking through the properties available to the Lord Black a former estate within the walls of York was identified for a new capital venture an alternative shopping street to Diagon Alley. This new enterprise street would be completely owned by the Picaroon Group and a modern range of stores and facilities would be provided including shop spaces made available for minority groups. Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate according to the non magical community of York was the smallest street with just two house locations and one of those a lawyers. Yes many of the buildings were medieval in nature the whole estate would be rebuilt in a new layout which matched the surrounding streets like the Shambles so if any non magical walked into the area getting through the gateway they would just observe that the shops were quirky but fitted into the shopping district style as a historical medieval shopping district. As par of the work for the new commercial district the goblin nation assisted the York Minster in the excavation of an under croft. The under croft work was used as a cover for the Gringotts' Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate branch construction. All the excess soil was hidden in the under croft soil and dirt removal.

Those pure bloods that had survived the search for the mark of Voldemort may have thought that it was all over they could return to life as normal ala Victorian society started to find that life was not returning to normal. With the development of Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate Gringotts many groups who were discriminated by the purebloods moved their business and retail purchases to the new commercial district. Established businesses like Olivanders and Fortescues opened a second shop front in York that quickly became their primary business branch. Other business such as those found in Knockturn alley whom were legitimate businesses were also recruited to the new commercial district as the rents were reasonable and they did not have to deal with the unscrupulous customer base. New services like 24 hour trading were put in place for those who needed them. For example the Vampire Community got their own Blood bank Café thanks to joint venture with the Polish non magical community. Greater integration with the non magical community had a positive effect on many as the UK magical society was being revolutionised from the ground up.

The Picaroon Group paid for the Goblin nation to go through the Black Estate's London townhouse where it was discovered that there was another soul container associated with Lord Mouldy Shorts. The legal team of the Tonks and Tonks partnership went to town in preparing legal documents to be lodged in the magical and non magical court system. Albus Sodding Dumb as Door had a lot to answer for and the House Black was going to squeeze blood out of a stone to get the necessary answers it needed to help protect the officially missing heir, Harry James Potter.


	9. Hardik and Hermione

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.

**Chapter 9: Hardik and Hermione**

The new school setting at the Mahakali Community School was very beneficial not only for Susan Bones, the niece of Amelia Bones, but also for young Hardik and Hermione Granger. Other Muggleborn magicals participated in both the full day school program and the wide range of extension and afterhours programs. The mixture of races and faiths along with overarching creed of respect and tolerance was very beneficial in that those children who could have been isolated due to the magical heritage. Every child was included in activities to assist in the development of their self-confidence and social skills.

Remus Lupin absolutely loved his part time position with the school and the benefits it had provided him. To think that his life had radically changed in the last 9 months as he now had a secure income, understanding landlords and opportunities for promotion. The health benefits alone were amazing thought the werewolf. Thanks to the Little Nepali Community Clinic use of traditional medicine Remus had access to some Sherpa medicine and additional training from the Buddhist and Hindi practitioners of mind arts that enabled him to become balanced thus his transformations were no longer so painful and highly disruptive to his life. No with the control he had now Remus was no longer an uncontrolled dark monster that was a threat to the rest of the public.

Not only did he now have a new pack he had been access to James' son and was now considered a member of Hardik's pack that was made up with a varied assortment of individuals. The truth about what had happened on that fateful night had been discovered and Remus was glad that he was part of the organisation working to free his friend Sirius when he had learnt the truth. Remus' trust of Dumbledore had broken long ago and he agreed with Minerva and Alastair that the Order of Phoenix should disband. This would help limit the power of Albus to many names.

Minerva became the first secret agent of the Third way organisation that was developed to replace the Order of Phoenix. The Jīvana was a new group that had both public and secret aspects following the eight stokes in the wheel of life. Jīvana was not restricted to one minority group of membership but now had members from a diverse range of communities with the same goals to improve the equity of all communities so they could live and thrive in peace and harmony.

When Sirius was released for Azkaban it was felt by the Subedar-Major that it would be a good idea that they limited his access to his godson initially as he would need to recover from the aftereffects of his exposure to the dementors and that he would also be needed to lead a false trail for Dumb as a door.

The whole scenario had been explained to the dark haired marauder as the ultimate prank on the magical world. With the settlement of the House Black business and proxies Sirius had indicated to those purebloods who had not been swept up in the 12 Impervious Curse defence clean up trials that the preverbal gloves were off and the archaic Victorian practices were no longer going to be tolerated.

Sirius played the card of leaving on a portkey to Australia to look for his godson. It was a quick international flight from Sydney to Singapore and the former Auror and hitwizard found himself in training with the Singapore Ghurkha regiment. With the use of traditional medicines, a mind healing program and a heck of a lot of potions the emancipated marauder was nursed back to health and then some. While he may have been a fit hitwizard he was not Ghurkha fit and he found that he was put through his paces to get up to military standard fitness. One of the side effects Sirius discovered was that his magical strength improved and he had a greater endurance for spell battles.

It was during the December three week central selection in Pokhara, Nepal that Sirius got to meet his Godson and his new extended family. For a second Christmas Hardik got more family members. He could remember an 'unca padfoo' and now here he was. Mr Lupin had become Remus long ago and it was only when Sirius called him Moony did it click in Hardik's mind that the tall sandy blonde man was his 'unca moonee'.

Hermione's acquisition of a brother had brought much joy to her. She also had learnt that she had magic and this helped to explain the strange occurrences that had isolated her in the past. The move to a new school along with the constant support of her brother helped the young witch come out of her shell. Where before she had hidden behind her books she now had a group of friends, played sports and was willing to share her time with others. No longer did she bombard individuals with her knowledge on a subject she had learnt give and take, the importance of listening and being a good friend. There were times still when she would revert to an overenthusiastic pocket rocket but now it was not alone as Hardik would be there with her in the excitement.

The House Black had started the undermining of the traditional UK magical economy with Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate development. The second summer with the Grangers there was a holiday to Yorkshire and the new magical community where the children participated in a number of summer school programs earning about many of the creatures you don't normally find in Diagon Alley like the Centaurs and the Vampire Covens. Filius Flitwick ran a weeklong charm development camp that included charms for the goblin nation at the St Crux Community Hall. It was during this program did the little half goblin meet the young Hermione Granger and he came away with the wish that she would accept her Hogwarts place when she was 11 years old as she would be a good contender for his old alma mater Ravenclaw.

School wise by the end of the first year of the Mahakali Community School the top children in year 3 was a toss off between the two Granger siblings in the various subject areas. To keep young Hermione and Hardik engaged they had participated in the summer programs in Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate. The Subedar-Major thought that the Hermione could probably complete her OWLs before the expected age band. Hardik had the same potential but he was more practical based as seemed to have an intuitive feel for his magic that his sister did not.

Alistair Moody had also settled well into the wider Mahakali Community as he was now seen as an honoured grandfather and local security consultant to the school. There was much respect for the battle scared former Auror. The Subedar-Major had done much to alleviate the man's pain and provided him access to a second network of informants that he had not realised were present in the UK. Many pureblood magicals wrote of the ethnic minority magicals. Here was a new magical community that he had never had any experience with as an outsider. Living on the Estate he was conscripted by Rakshi to be part of the Grandfather program at the new Community School at first as a security consultant to maintain the safety of the children. The benefits for the old man was seeing young Hardik happy and health like when he was playing football on the pitch during his little lunch.

The whole Granger family had undergone additional security training with Rakshi and his consultants like Moody. The children were taught skills like spatial awareness and threat assessment. They were also given physical fitness training with some of the social clubs from Normandy barracks. Young Hardik and Hermione were both moving up the rankings in their taekwondo class.

It was thrilling for Sirius to see his cub but it was never in Aldershot. The Lord Sirius Orion Black of the House Black would never be seen in such a muggle area. The Lord's visits to Singapore, Pokhara and York could be chalked up as business or post prison treatment. Hardik never entered the London Town House belonging to the Blacks. They just made sure there were concidental meetings in York thanks to Remus. Meanwhile in the magical Ministry of Magic the Heir Potter Black was declared a missing person.

oOoOo

The eighteen months since the disappearance of Harry Potter had been an utter nightmare for Headmaster Dumbledore. He had lost his position on the International Confederation of Wizardry. The Order of Phoenix did not recognise his leadership or the need for them to continue to meet. There was a strong push in the Wizengamot led by Regent Augusta Longbottom to remove him from his position as Chief Warlock.

At the same time the Hogwarts board was antagonistic to him. This time it was not Augusta no it was Sirius Black's proxy Madam Tonks. She was rubbing salt into his wounds every opportunity she had as this old man had lost the heir. Having Nymphadora present in the school she managed to get some gossip on the place and one thing for sure she was gunning to have a certain potions master's crown jewels on her study wall. Madam Tonks could have done a potions mastery but chose the law it was horrifying to find that they were not getting the graduates interested in the subject and don't get her started on the quality of the teaching NONE EXISTANT!

Alistair Moody now had filled the former board position that had belonged to Lucius Malfoy as the board was stacked enough with House Black supporters to have this distinguished man invited to sit on the board. Dumbledore had tried to get Arthur Weasley the seat but found that Madam Tonks lobbying hard against him. It was just another sign that Albus Dumbledore's power base was being eroded.

oOoOo

It was during the Picaroon Enterprise Group's Strategic Development week in France where the various players from the House Black, Jīvana and the Goblin nation proceeded to work out the next steps for the reformation of the UK magical world, removal of Dumbledore and any threat to the so called missing heir Harry Potter Black.

Narcissa Black had moved to France with Draco after her former husband's trial, as she had wanted a chance to remove the stains of his father's treatment of them both. She had started researching the life of Albus Dumbledore looking for dirt as per her Overlord's wishes. He had commissioned her to write unauthorised biography of the man. There post owls between her cottage in France and the various supporting collaborating research assistants were certainly getting the dirt on the so called squeaky clean Head Master.

Narcissa reported an outline of her findings to the Picaroon Enterprise Group Executives and there was a great deal of enjoyment of the details in particular the true goat story had been gotten out of Abe Dumbledore. Apparently there was not much love lost between the two brothers. Abe the former unspeakable had more than enough dirt on his brother since he had managed to get him fired and was looking for payback. Narcissa encouraged the Picaroon Enterprise Group to purchase the Hogs Head Pub and install him as the publican as this premises would enable them to use Abe as agent to keep tabs on the school and Dumbledore.

Bathilda Bagshot in Godric's Hollow had been another cash cow of information on Albus. Her information supported Abe's story that Gellert Grindelwald years before the famous 1945 duel had been Albus' lover. The documentary facts and photos really put the nail in the coffin about this relationship. Bathilda had a beef with Albus as he still had the horrible Binns teaching the history of magic when she was one of the foremost academics on the subject alive today.

Sirius charged Andy Tonks to make her career as a politician he wanted her to shoot for the Minister for Magic. They would need to get strong allies in the Wizengamot the first step would be pushing Dumbledore off the throne as the Chief Warlock with someone like Augusta Longbottom. If they couldn't get Andy as the candidate for the Minister they would want to make sure they got someone like Amelia Bones.

oOoOo

Tonks and Tonks the legal firm had undertaken a considerable amount of work for the House Black and had needed to expand the administration staff and office space. There had been considerable public interest in the return of the Overlord. Some had attempted to take advantage with bogus business deals and claims. They were dealt with considerable vigour to prove that they were not born yesterday as legal practitioners and the effrontery to try to stack a deal with the House Black.

The legal firm had been part of the block that helped to gather supporting evidence that was passed to the goblin nation to help the DMLE deal with the 12 Impervious Claimants. By including the Goblin nation in the evidence storage and collection for the trials there was no opportunities for the evidence to go missing after a ministerial backhander.

Some of the side benefits for the House Black were that Tonks and Tonks had increased their portfolio of investments and proceeded to buy up promissory notes that the Goblin nation held on those companies and individuals who had attempted to double deal. It was strange how quickly the House Black and the Picaroon Group picked up business opportunities. The two organisations were the dominating the magical world becoming the two main oligarchs. There was some pleasure amongst the business such as the Rookwoods' foreclosure who had attempted to swindle the House Black.

When the goblin had put Augustus Rookwood in their debtors prison they found the man to be a Death Eater. Some of the old warhorses like Moody and Amelia were called out to hear the testimony. Rookwood and the Unspeakables were horrified that he had the dark mark. This lead to an internal investigation causing a purge of undesirable personnel within the Department of Mysteries, once the Unspeakables had been put into Order they started to gather evidence on other Ministry of Magic Departments so when they had the political clout available they could purge the Ministry in the same manner.

oOoOo

The former Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom had become coherent thanks to a combination of goblin and Nepali treatments. Neither of them would ever be strong enough to do the dangerous job again but that was not a major disappointment for the pair. They instead chose to continue the family herbology tradition while Augusta remained as the official Regent of the House. The pair of them was still doing many hours of rehabilitation every day but they enjoyed every moment they had with their son Neville.

Amelia Bones was a frequent visitor at Longbottom Manor and as such suggested that Neville attend the Mahakali Community School so he could have more social interaction and developed better survival skills. The old pureblood isolationist policies could not continue thanks to the sheer numbers of non magicals in Britain alone.

oOoOo

Dumbledore was feeling threatened from all sides. With the declaration of the Heir Potter as officially missing Gringotts the goblin bankers had frozen the Potter Family accounts. This was their opportunity to gather the necessary transaction evidence. The forensic accountants would be following transactions down for years tracking the web of Dumbledore's deception. The man himself when he did not get arrested for fraud in the Gringotts after the account freezing assumed that the goblins had not started to look into the accounts and continued to operate his accounts in the same manner. The Goblins just smiled without showing their teeth and continued to track his transactions. It was to them just more rope for him to hang himself with.


	10. Rotam Vitae

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything you recognise. This is for fun only, please don't sue.

**Chapter 10: Rotam Vitae**

For the Hardik and Hermione's Year 4 the number of pureblood Anglo Saxon magical children increased. With the Longbottom's decision to send young Neville to there were others who followed their lead in sending their children to the new private mixed system community school. There were the Greengrass girls. The oldest girl went into the Grangers year group while her younger sister joined one of the Year 2 classes. Other familiar names in the magical world such as Zabini, Abbott, Davis, Lovegood, Davies and others were also found in the school.

Not only were the neutral pureblood families were jumping on the bandwagon but other families such as the Finnegan's, Thomas and Creswell's. These families had that mix of both magical and non-magical children with mixed heritage parents that were often described as half bloods.

It was always baffling to Asmara and Fezile how these families could be half bloods because both of them had the desire to say which half. It was not like you could separate a body in half or the blood in half. Was the half the deoxygenised blood giving them the so called blue blood tint that the purebloods seemed to insist they had with their anarchic ways and old world titles.

Other ethnic magical families like the Chang's and Patil's loved the idea of having their children participating in a friendly school environment. The increased mixing of the student population provided a greater amount of resources for the extended community such as the Grandmothers, the book club and the other educational programs.

Picaroon Enterprises were developing more and more business opportunities that enabled magic aware individuals who had their WOMBATs employment opportunities. As Fezile had pointed out individuals like squibs were discriminated against in both worlds. Not enough muggle education to enable them to blend and not enough magic to have some level of respect in their family or magical world. The Goblin Nation benefited from the increased number of magically aware non magicals through Picaroon Enterprises as it gave them a cover to access muggle technology, business opportunities and a greater market for their services.

Retiring Ghurkhas had a wider range of employment opportunities no longer were they always getting forced into security work. If they wanted to they could access the afterhours education provision to improve their qualifications. Picaroon was very willing to use them as security personnel or provide additional job training programs where they needed staff with a very very good understanding of security.

The Building Society increased its number of branches and around Aldershot there were more non-Nepali's choosing to use this financial organisation. The data centre had to be expanded at the end of the second year as external organiations utilised the services. The school had a side benefit as the service fees help to pay for the electronic library and IT provision. There was a digitisation project underway called Svorga that included magical and non magical texts. The Grandmothers fund raised to put IT and better educational resources in the various Hill Tribe areas.

On the second anniversary of the disappearance of Harry Potter the House Black made sure that was plenty of publicity and increased lobbying within the Wizengamot for greater improvements in the care of orphaned magical children. Again it was an opportunity to put the knife into Albus Dumbledore. However not everything was beer and skittles.

The new neutral faction had tried to get their own candidate into the Minister position only to find that somehow Cornelius Fudge managed to over take them in the polls. It seemed that the neutral voters had not come out and actually cast their votes. On the whole the voter participation was down. The new Minister Fudge was a complete berk but with the assistance of Albus Dumbledore he managed to bring a number of new pieces of legislation in that had serious consequences to the magical way. So called traditions cast into stone. There were decisions made that led to grave difficulties for dark creatures like Remus Lupin. Cornelius Fudge the fool had installed Delores Umbridge as the head of department doing that fateful act where an incompetent is installed above their level of competence.

The Department of Mysteries started to find that their budget requests were being denied as the new Minister could not see the point of the department as it would not provide him with the public exposure to maintain his popularity with the wizarding public. The Ministry under his guidance tried to take advantage of the Death Eater estates causing more problems as they created enmity with the spouse and children who were disenfranchised and disinherited. Many a pureblood matriarch found herself without the funds or estate to support her children. The population in Knockturn Alley was increasing. Children who were orphaned by the system were forgotten about or were punished by the sins of their parents. How is a four year old to blame?

Lord Black had put in appearance in London and found that he attacked the attention of a young cadet reporter, Rita Skeeter. The woman tagged him all the time she seemed to have the inside scoop where he was going all the time. As a result during the third summer of Hardik's freedom he did not get to see much of his unca padfoot.

When Sylvia Flint was charge with theft for stealing food to feed her children Amelia Bones had put a plea into Augusta Longbottom that they needed to do something for all the families who were being persecuted since they were on the wrong side of the war. Madam Bones had read her muggle history and knew that the second war was likely to be triggered if the practices of the victors continued. It was the same with Germany in World War 1, afterwards the country was bankrupted through reparations and harsh discriminate polices. In the end the German population had to accept the policies of an extreme party, as they were the only party that seemed to want to help the country find its feat again. Less than 21 years later the world was at war again.

Regent Longbottom became the head of a charity organisation called Rotam Vitae. The aim of the women led organisation was to provide aid and assistance to magical women and children. The fact that children were being orphaned by the system and left in poor conditions was one of the first lobbying points for this organisation. The rotam vitae tried to provide a supporting hand to mothers such as providing small business loans so they could earn their own money to support their children.

But while there was good work done by the Rotam Vitae there were some in the Ministry who were trying to build their own little fiefdom. Cornelius Fudge again promoted and supported Dolores Umbridge with her appointment as a Deputy Under sectary. Now she did not have one Department Section under her command she gained others. At the same time the policies and practices of the Fudge administration had lead to a further shrinkage of the magical economy. The House Black and the Picaroon Group were sheltered by how much business they had in the non magical world.

With the new Deputy Under Secretary Umbridge the budgets of many areas within the Ministry were cut. With budget cuts so came the personnel cuts. It was interesting to note when looking at who was given their pink slip at the MOM there was a greater percentage of muggle born or half blood former employees who were sent on their way. Purebloods where the Under Secretary could were retained however some who blood traitors like Dirk Creswell who had married a muggle born witch and learnt gobblygook were fired promptly. According to Delores he was a horrible horrible man since he had learnt the filthy language and seemed to have a close relationship with the Goblin Nation. It was one sub department that she was happy to absorb into the Dark Creatures.

There is a strange concept that you have to spend money to make money. The practices of the MOM under Fudge's leadership led to withdrawal of money from the economy. People were fearful so they were not spending. The non spending had a knock on effect on businesses where there was downsizing. This increased the number of unemployed and the more fear within the community about their economic survival. Disposable incomes were down and this trickled through to the magical government as taxation income decreased. When Tom from the Leaky Cauldron shut up shop on this pub it was the first time in 500 years when the publican had not been a member of his family. As it was Tom had opened a second premises in York that had been keeping the Leaky afloat but now it was not possible. The Green Gumboot could not support the second pub and its costs any more. With a heavy heart Tom Firkin handed the deeds over to the Goblin nation for the property to pay off the loan collateral he had borrowed to start up the Green Gumboot. The Firkin trade as publicans would continue but they wouldn't be there at the gateway between the magical and muggle world.

With the decrease in trade in Diagon Alley there was a knock on effect in the other London magical premises. So there was less money coming into the business district, property values and rents decreased. People did not frequent the formally busy district it was becoming a ghost town. The Goblin nation had to foreclose on a number of merchants.

oOoOo

Madam Umbridge was not having a very good day. She only had so many galleons to do her tasks such as wiping out all those horrible half breeds. She wanted to place them into work camps where they may products for sale that undermined and tormented muggles or provided further income to the Ministry to carry on the good works of Cornelius Fudge. Delores made sure she was seen at tall the photo opportunities but behind the scenes in the Ministry of Magic she had one of the biggest fiefdoms.

Delores truly believed that she was the epitome of the adage behind every great man there is an even greater woman. Madam Cornelius Fudge was a poorly woman who was hardly ever seen in public. She had been a pureblood debutant with a powerful family, low bride price and high dowry to enable the marriage contract. The young Cornelius fudge had married her to ensure he had a good career in the Ministry. But now according to Delores it was time for the Minister to upgrade after a suitable period of morning.

However there was the increasing problem of not enough funds. St Mungo's could no longer provide a universal health service so unless you had the money you could not get the health care. Delores had managed to get the place to start working, as a profitable enterprise but there had been considerable shrinkage. No longer was there the 24 hour Accident and emergency free service. If you wanted a mediwitch it had to be within working hours and after you paid the initial appointment fee. For every appointment the Ministry needed to make a profit.

If you couldn't afford the fees well tough bickies you had to go somewhere else like that horrible organisation Rotam Vitae. As soon as possible Madam Umbridge was determined to ban the organisation and that should put Augusta Longbottom and the likes back in their boxes. How dare these uppity women sneer at her she was Cornelius' right hand woman.

Sitting at her desk that morning in her pink office within the Ministry of Magic looking at her lovely cat plates Delores Umbridge had a lightening wave. Lets tax everyone's gold. Make the goblins declare all the contents of each vault and account and take a minimum of 10% from everyone. Buildings like the Ministry could have all the gold chandlery removed and cashed in. That one would be a 2 for 1 income generator for the Ministry. All the galleons from the gold chandlery and then the 10% levy on the goblins for the increased ownership of gold providing even more galleons for the ministry coffers. The Ministry would also have to ensure that each magical household, business and individual had correctly reported their gold ownership. Sitting there looking at her cats drinking her tea Madam Umbridge came up with the Vir Aureum Inspectors. The Ministry would be able to earn money by selling of the letters of marque to individuals to become Vir Aureum Inspectors. So again more money would come into the Ministry.

oOoOo

The current muggle Prime Minister the Right Honourable Margaret Hilda Thatcher had come to power thanks to her performance in the Parliament during the Winter of Discontent. The first couple of years of her Prime Ministership had been implanting policies to correct the economic shambles of the UK economy. She had provided the leadership to the nation to through the Falklands War proving that a woman could be a wartime leader in the modern age. She had been given the nick name the Iron Lady for her lack of tolerance for incompetent idiots. Prime Minister Thatcher had repeatedly demonstrated her determination not to bow down to terrorists with her policies and decisions in relation to the Northern Ireland Troubles. It was just like how she didn't bow down to the unionists in the same year when the IRA had attempted to kill her at the 1984 party conference. Since the bombing and the repeated fronts of disgruntlement the Prime Minister utilised her security services. It had come to the attention of both MI5 and MI6 that there was increasing issues with Magicals. New Scotland Yard reported to the Iron Lady there was an increased amount of crimes that was distinctly magical.

After sending an OWL to the Ministry of Magic (how inefficient) the former industrial chemist and lawyer was becoming highly agitated with the lack of response. She had thought James Callaghan to be pulling her leg when he left her the notes about the world of magic in her dispatch box. She had been very pleased to met Millicent Bagshot the then Minister of Magic. Yes another powerful woman in politics dealing with the incompetents. When Millicent had retired she had introduced her replacement and she could tell from Millie's body language that she did not like her replacement. With his comical green bowler hat Mrs Thatcher confided to Dennis she had wanted bop him one with his condescending manners towards her.

The Prime Minister was drumming her fingers a clear sign to her administrative staff that she was not happy to be kept waiting.

POP! "Ah my dear you asked if I could come an have see you?" bustled the self assured Minister of Magic

"Yes Mr Fudge. I requested last week for you to present yourself for a urgent discussion," advised the Lady Prime Minister. If you had been a regular in the cabinet room you would have known by her tone of voice that Margaret was not happy

"Are we having tea and biscuits?" Cornelius Fudge blindly barged on promptly seating himself across from the Prime Minister. He had not been given permission to take a seat and the level of irritation that Margaret Thatcher had for this man rose up another couple of knotches. She would be needing a Bex when she got the chance to clear the tension headache she had.

"No we are having a frank discussion and you are going to give me some answers today"

"Now Now my dear lady surely there is no reason to be quite so brisk today I am a busy man and I have come to visit as you asked" he whittered on at her. Clearly not noticing the tense jaw movement the tightening of the eye folds and the increased pace of the tapping fingers on the long wooden table.

"It has come to our notice that there has been an increased level of magical crime occurring. There are magical crimes occurring in our world. I thought your Ministry had dealt with Death Eater terrorists in 1981. What is going on?" she demanded with a hiss of anger in her voice.

"I am not sure I know what you are referring to, my dear?" God the man was a baffoon. Nothing but a complete air head how he had even managed to get elected as the Minister she was completely surprised. Millie had written her a lovely handover note briefing her on this mans career and Margaret was sure he was profiteering from his position. Denis would agree with her that he was one of the lowest of the low.

"I am not your dear. I am not your lovely woman. I am the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. I have been an elected Member of Parliament since 1959. Now lets get this straight Mr Fudge. Here is list of suspicious crimes allocate one of your magical policemen to investigate. I want the detective to report to me each evening here in the Cabinet Room at 9pm. I am warning you now that Her Majesty is not happy about the situation I have to report to her the latest information when I next see her which will be Tuesday at the weekly Audience. So stop fiddle faddling about and get it sorted. Good Afternoon. I expect that detective to be introduced to me this evening at 9pm and I will expect an update on the situation."

With that the Prime Minister closed one file on the cabinet room table and proceeded to open another one from her stack of intray matters. Mr Fudge had been dismissed in her mind and she had more pressing matters to deal with before she went up to the flat and had dinner with Dennis. After dinner she would return back downstairs to complete some paper work before meeting the magical detective. Hopefully this someone would be competent.


End file.
